Chris Thompson   Chris Thompson on the internet

I’m a little worried about debt. Because I’m starting a post-graduate course on the first of February, and whilst I am very excited about it, the finance part of it does worry me.

The fees are like all college or university fees: horrendously expensive. So expensive that the only way I can really afford it is to take out a career development loan. Thankfully this, as far as loans go, is quite nice: you pay no interest over your course, and you don’t even start paying it back until it’s finished.

It is different to a student loan, though, because it feels like a very real debt. The student loan goes away if you haven’t paid it off by a certain time. You don’t need to start paying it until you’re earning a certain amount of money. But this, this is a real loan, with real money that will need to start being paid back pretty quickly.

I’ve tried looking for debt advice. There are websites out there that can usually help with this sort of thing. Or, at the very least, give you information on it. Tell you your choices. There are websites like This is Money, which specialise in giving you the latest up to date news on all things finance, as well.

In fact, a quick Google shows all sorts of money advice websites, much like this.

None of them touch on my main worry, though. With my course starting so quickly, what it my loan application falls through? What if I’m left stranded in the middle of a course that I then can’t pay for?

I suppose the only option then would be to look at the other options my bank offers: personal loans, or some of their other loans that you can supposedly apply for in a matter of minutes online. But they worry me even more than the career development one does…