Its worth pointing out that you won't be considered a DEP unless you meet the criteria for one and apply via the DEP process. If you pay your own way through a CAP509 course (or whatever they are these days) BA consider you a self sponsored CEP, which means you get £2K more basic pay than a BA sponsored CEP but basically you're on the same reduced pay scales as a CEP. This is so that BA can recover the large sums of money they've invested in your ab-initio training, and nothing to do with them trying to rip you off.