the decision to full time/part time should depend on whether you can cope with the course or not. i have friends who completed phd part time and full time.

but, those who did part time said they really struggle. phd demands lots of time, energy and brain. which makes it hard to stay on a job and do phd.

while i was doing masters, we used to have sharing sessions with phd students and 100% of them said do phd full time. it is a lonely journey, so dont put too much of burden on your shoulder, scared might drop dead halfway.

i would support full time. actually im starting my phd in ukm. just for 2 sems (cos just developing the framework of reasearch) i will be part time, after that full time.

as your problem is finance, there are many things you can do. apply for scholarships, if your supervisor has got research grant you can apply for it, do part time tutoring for degree and master students (for some subjects of master students, you can get about rm120/session), can also try to be Research Assistant for you supervisor....