Council Tax Exemption: PhD and MPhil students writing up a thesis

Full-time PhD students will automatically be certified as exempt from Council Tax during their registration and fee-paying period (normally 3 years). After that, they are not registered as full-time students, and are no longer required to be resident in Aberystwyth or to study on a full-time basis. Many will go into full-time employment while completing their thesis. The University does not, therefore, automatically notify the Council of exemption from Council Tax for full-time PhD students after their registration period ends. However, certificates of exemption are provided on request to students up to the end of the fourth year because the course normally takes 4 years to complete and we recognise that many students will continue to study full-time in that period.  

Similarly, full-time MPhil students will automatically be certified as exempt from Council Tax during their registration and fee-paying period (normally 1 year) and certificates of exemption are provided on request to students for a six month period after that because the course normally takes 18 months to complete. 

Please note that exemption will not normally be provided after the 4^th year for PhD students, or after 18 months for MPhil students, even where an extension to the submission deadline has been approved. This is based on legal advice that the basis for exemption is the length of the course and not the time taken by an individual student to complete the course.

Students who require certificates of exemption can have a look at our Certification website for more information and how to get in touch.