Alternative to Career Development Loan

wilcoxc

Dear all,

I'm on a Masters with some funding from SLC which covers half my fees. I was declined a career development loan that would have covered the other half.

I have been able to continue flexible working alongside my course to help fund fees, however work have lost their contract and will be making people redundant, therefore I may be needing alternative funding - getting another flexible job whilst studying fulltime will be hard.

Are there any alternatives to a career development loan? My credit rating is good so will be able to access loans, although with no job security may make this hard.

As a last resort my wife (who is working full-time) would be able to take out a commercial loan. But surely there are alternatives for me as a full-time student, especially since SLC don't even cover the half the fees alone.

Any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Many thanks,
Chris.

[Deleted User]

wilcoxc wrote: »

My credit rating is good so will be able to access loans, although with no job security may make this hard.

Your credit rating won't be of help, as lenders will make their own decisions, not take the CRAs opinion.

The job situation, if it pans out as you expect, will be a major issue for most.

I think you would be wise to approach this as a couple. Do you have savings to fall back on?

wilcoxc

Hi,

Thanks for getting back to me, and I think you're right, it would be best to approach it as a couple and it was always our back up plan, along with our savings.

I suppose I'm miffed and frustrated that there isn't any financial support out there that would suit my situation, which is a situation that most post-grad students are in; Career Development Loans are monopolised by one bank (CO-OP) who have declined all but 1 person on my post-grad course. One student is working 60 hours a week as a carer, I'm doing 27.5, another is doing 30 etc... it's crazy and all adds to the stress.

If anyone knows of any other options then I'm all ears.

Many thanks,
Chris.

Grzegorz_Kowalski

https://www.futurefinance.com

DCFC79

Grzegorz_Kowalski wrote: »

www.futurefinance.com

Why would you use them ?

CrabbitDutchie

Find other flexible work, hard but not impossible. I signed up to a few hospitality/events agencies during my MSc (for living costs, got a full tuition fee grant), pay per hour not great, but flexible and allowed me to get by.

Have you looked into the alternative guide to postgraduate funding? It's been licensed to 100 universities so you may be able to get your hands on it for free. It's a lot of effort but I had some success. University discretionary hardship funds might also give you a little which could help towards fees.