Advice on Professional Career Developement Loan - can you help, please?!

SuperStudentSaver8

Hi All,


This is my first post ever so please bear with me if I don’t get it right and for the length of post!

In January 2009 I took redundancy, as there was restructuring at the company, then at the same time I had to have a major operation and needed 3mths recuperation. I was offered the opportunity to apply for a new job when I was better but the role was £10000 less than my job at the time and there was no guarantee I would even get the new job.

Luckily I was able to get some freelance work towards the end of my recuperation where I could work from home, however this contract finished at the being of this month (Sept) and unfortunately they won’t have any more work for me.

In the meantime I have got a place on a 2 year MA course starting in Jan 2010 which I'm really happy about. I have a bit of savings left from the redundancy which I planned to use towards the fees, and I want to apply for a PCDL.
However, I've just been told that I may have to have another operation (unrelated to my earlier one), and the earliest date I can have on the NHS is January, this would also mean another 2-3mths recuperating and this time I wont be able to work!

I really want to do the MA so I am considering going private for my op and hopefully I should be fit enough to start the MA in January but I'd have to use the savings intended for the MA to pay for the operation. Great!

Effectively I'm unemployed now (but wont have been for the 3mths need to get 100% PCDL) and will be until the course starts as I will be recuperating. I'm loath to tell either Barclays or the Co-op my medical history in case it has an affect on my application.

Can anyone tell me when would be the best time to apply for PCDL - given my weird situation - which would allow my to get 100% towards the fees/living expenses, and how long they take to get back to applicants with an answer, and if there is anything else I should consider?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Dreaming_debtfree_dreams

Hi

By January 2010 you'll have been unemployed for 3 months so I would hope you'd be entitled to the full amount for your fees, otherwise you may be able to apply for a top-up later (a friend of mine did this under the old CDL scheme for his living costs). I'd telephone the PCDL helpline 0800 585 505 to confirm this though.

I shouldn't worry about your medical background, the application's very similar to a straight forward loan application and there's no medical questions as far as I can recall.

Barclays and Co-Op have different times for when you can apply, I think Barclays is from 12wks before the course starts and Co-Op 6 weeks before, and you can only apply to one bank at a time, but check with the banks as things could have changed. Also Co-Op won't let you have a PCDL from them if you already have a student bank account with them or Smile, but you can have a student bank account elsewhere. Barclays will let you have both.

Hope that answers some of your queries. Good luck with the MA, I've just started my MSc, it's bloody hard work but will hopefully be worth it

DFD