This program is so flawed!If you spent all your money on a big house big boy toys you quailfy. If you saved for a rainy day you get nothing! Bottom line!

and yet, albeit this type of training, in the end, you won't get the job you really want, and you still have to end up paying that 28,000 to pay back to the govt, b/c that money isn't really yours. Its like asking the govt for a private loan, that you know you won't be able to pay back. Its almost like a College loan, only bigger.

It is almost impossible to get this Second Careers. After doing all the required paperwork and many hours of research I was told I have too much dept and would have to hold a full time job and go to school so it wouldn't be approved. Of course I have bills, I have been unemployed for 11 months! It doesn't work for people that are 54 years old and 10 years in the same field. I would only have gotten enough to pay for the school course if I was lucky and even then I may have to pay a certain amount each month. How do they figure this program helps older unemployed people? I did not feel the employment centre wanted to send any paper work onto government to even be considered.

@Charlene: Every government program I have ever applied for due to layoffs from every job I've had (never been fired for cause, ever), involved a lot of footwork, a lot of money spent on transit or other transportation, and mountains of paperwork and endless hours of meetings with civil servants or contractors who would at best give me nothing but half-truths or outright lies.

At the end of every one of these little adventures, there would be some lame excuse of why I didn't qualify.

Get this.

Canada Works Program, from the '90's. Got laid off from a job I held for over a year. A friend, who ran a furniture business offered me a job as a bookkeeper/office mgr because the one he had was leaving town. Thru CanWorks, he would provide the training, the gov't would pay half my wages for a set period.

I was turned down because

***I wasn't on UIC for a full year.****

Believe it. There's lots, lots more, but the post would be too lengthy.

These so-called programs are just rotten carrots on sticks, and the people who dream up the prerequisites and make the rules of the games,are nothing but perpetrators of cruel jokes, on people who have already suffered too much.

They are not to be trusted.

Both myself and my husband went for career retraining.Neither of us had any problems getting accepted to the program. We both got the jobs we retrained for and didn't have to pay anything back.And by the way we were both over 50, each of us being the oldest in the class.

I got second career and I'm only 22, worked in a call center

I got into this program by doing months of research and going to loads of meetings. This idiot caseworker named Steve Graham with the Ministry of training colleges and universities signed off on more money for living allowance than he should, so I spent a year and 4 months fighting the government with lawyers before they admitted their mistake. I finished my program with a 3.4 gpa which is like a 93% average, and spent months looking for a job related to my new field with no success. I had to scrape by on art projects for money, and now work at a bakery.coffeeshop instead of being a well paid web developer. This program was a retarded mess, poorly managed and poorly executed. Bloody nightmare.

Not familiar with the "Second Career" type of 'loan' but if they are anything like OSAP loans they are seriously flawed.

After being laid off and collecting EI, I went back to school to retrain as bookkeeper/junior accountant. I qualified for and recieved $22K in loans. The woman next to me, in the same course, also collecting EI after a layoff, applied for and was turned down for OSAP because her husband made too much money $110K per year. Soooo EI paid for her tuition, books, travel, etc.

At the end of it all I had a loan to pay back and she walked away with no debt. Is there something wrong with this picture??

The real kicker is I am still in the profession and she decided after she finished the course, she would rather be a stay-at-home mom instead. How lovely...wish I had that option.

So glad that everything worked out for "susieque" and her husband. It would be nice to think that your
experience is the norm' and not the exception.

What really hurts isn't that this program is by far and ahead of anything that ever visits upon the Maritimes - its that all are excluded except Ontario residents. If my background was matched with the training - it would be industrial electrician with computer and electronics education and experience. Result? Pretty much write down your own number per year - the combination is so rare and so needed. I would love to do it, I love industrial environments, I enjoy the importance and stress of getting things up and running fast. Instead, welcome to the Maritimes, ... um.. maybe you could be a Weather man.

This entire program was designed for lazy under-achievers. Several of the comments people have posted outline their inability to find a job for 10+ months. Ummm....how is that possible!!?? Are you above working at a Tim Hortons or McDonalds? They're hiring all the time. In fact, they even hire those with mental illnesses and learning difficulties - which means - they hire those who have not completed high school as well as those with disabilities.

Get off your tush, stop draining the system and robbing hard working tax payers of their contributions - and go get a job!!

Many of these programs want you to run your current claim out in its entirety. Which sounds kind of scary when you have a home and a family.

I am a certified auto and heavy duty mechanic, with all my bills and everything else, I could not afford to go back to school. I applied and was accepted for the second careers program. I do not have to pay the money back. No one does as long as you keep your receipts, proof that their money went to your schooling. With the recession I lost employment twice within 3 years. I could not find anything steady that would help with life. In no way have I ever milked the system. I simply took advantage of a great opportunity to further myself.

first rule , you must have been and worked / lived in canada for the last 10 years. to be able to retrain. sounds good to me

15 years ago I fought to get into an IT program at a local college...there were 45 students in all..more than half were 'priority' which means they were ex military or military spouses transferred into the area. I was the highest in my class and now am self employed in the IT field that I trained for...the rest of the 45...only 4 are still in IT...most of the priority people...re-enlisted into their old trades. I took advantage of the govn't offer and ran with it...too bad there weren't others that were given this same opportunity!

YeS! go for the jobs that will never be transferred to INDIA or elsewhere. For example truck drivers...elecltrician ... - We will always need truck drivers + you get to see the country THINK! .

I got Second Career help without too much trouble, my town had a low unemployment which apparently helps getting Second Career. Went back to school for nursing and 2 yrs later I'm pretty much done and have an interview lined up at the local hospital even before my placement is done. Without Second Career I would not be were I am now so I have a lot to be thankful for.
And NO you do not repay anything just so long as you provide tuition payment receipts showing you attend school. If you quit school and don't tell them while still receiving money they will come after you for repayment and with penalty.

I'm an unemployed person, and have been laid off twice now fromt he same company and no prospects of any type of job. I believe this is a reputable program,and if the government wants to retrain me for another career, where I can actually obtain employment, I'm up for it. You do not pay this back people, it's not OSAP...it's the government's way of helping those who need to retrain. At 56, and not employed, I'm up for anything they can offer me...thank you....

Some of you posters are way off the mark...OSAP is not part of the Second Career (SC) program. SC assistance is not a loan and does not have to be paid back. Unless...you quit the program or miss too many classes etc... I'm 56 and about to start training with financial assistance from SC. I was laid off after 30+ years with the same company. When taking my EI payments and my wife's income into account, they'll pay 65% of the tuition and books, plus they are reimbursing me for some of the travel costs of getting to school.

To Dave Johnston...You proved the saying: It's better to have people think you might be an asshole than open your mouth and remove all doubt.

THIS IS FOR CHARLENE...GO AND GET OFF UR COUCH AND GET A JOB...........AND IF U WANNA MILK GO BUY A DAIRY HERD........

So.. what about the young adults who have graduated from some of these courses and cant find a job everyone wants them to work as interns for free... how do they pay back the loans they incured..

AND FOR JOANNE,CRY ME A FREAKING RIVER AND GO AND FIND A JOB,THERE'S ALL KINDS OUT THERE,GET OUT AND FIND ONE AND QUIT CRYING TO THE GOVERMENT FOR A FREE HANDOUT......

AND ACTUALLY AND ACCURATELY, TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU A HOLE LOSERS FORGET ABOUT FREE LOADING OFF THE GOVERMENT AND WORK FOR A LIVING, JUST LIKE THE REST OF US WHO WORK AND R DAMN PROUD OF IT...IF UR TOO DUMB AND STUPID(LIKE THE LOT OF YA)MOVE SOMEWHERE ELSE.......I AM SO SICK OF HEARING ABOUT ALL UR LOSER SOB STORIES.......

this program is a scam i have inquired about it gone through the proper channels with no luck just closed doors,there is a cryteria that you have to meet,belive me the pollitions in canada are not here to help the people they are just collecting there pay cheque,what do johnny cash,bob hope and canda have i common?,no cash,no hope ,no future,help canada before we end up like the rest of the world!! Broke!

CONGRATS TO DAVE JOHNSTON FOR HIS STAND ON THIS AND FOR BOBBY U R THE BIGGEST ASSHOLE AND LOSER I HAVE SEEN....MOVE TO THE ARTIC,I HEAR THEY R LOOKING FOR WORM PICKERS,ALL YA CAN EAT AND A COZY COT.........