I word of caution about your financial planning atcowannabe.There are people who has been at the college for over 2 years!! 18 months is not uncommon at the moment. A pretty small percentage sail through all the courses 1st time (i'd guess at about 15-20% including all 3 disciplines) and if you are offered a recourse there is no guarantee it will be straight onto the next one as it may be full. One of the guys who started basic back in March will be starting his recourse in january!!!! Hopefully with smaller basic courses now it will be less likely that people have to wait for recourses.
Anyway, I know that's all a bit in the future but thought I'd mention it.
Lots of luck for your stage 3 - sounds like you've been putting in a lot of work
