Here's the deal:
I have NO experience in aviation. Since I was young (younger than 5) I have always loved planes and anything related. When I was 18 I looked into going to become a pilot but found that its very unlikely to get any kind of employment in the field until you are 21-23. So I set it aside and lived life for a while. Now I am 24 and started on the path to getting into the profession.
The first thing I did was start to look into some ways to get the proper credentials to fly professionally. The "cheapest" and quickest reputable school I found was a place called Aviator College in Fort Pierce, FL. I contacted them and started getting myself setup to get started. The admissions contact convinced me that it would be prudent to fast track my entry to January 4th in order to avoid an eminent tuition increase. I started doing the necessary stuff required to move from where I live now, Maine, to Florida while maintaining contact and paying a couple fees to get into the school and get my transcripts sent over. Now, today, less than a month from heading out, I was getting nervous because even though I am approved for all the available federal financing I still haven't heard from the financial aid person AT ALL. I know I'll need private financing and they say they want you to wait for financial aid to help you apply for the private financing. I called repeatedly and nothing from them. Finally I gave up and took it into my own hands. I called the companies the school works with on the loans to get approved and they all said I need a cosigner. Cool. Call my parents and find out they can't cosign for me because they filed bankruptcy two years ago, therefore are forbidden from being on any loans for another 5 years. stonewalled man. So here I am, already am committed to move out of my place, my job is over (it was a temporary job, and I didn't look for another because I had been intending to move) and my plans for my next step are up in smoke. In a way it's my fault, if I had been more thoughtful I could have forseen this and checked the financing from square one.
My goal isnt to become a pilot for a major airline, I want to fly the smaller stuff and work for a smaller company. Sounds weird, I know, but it just seems more adventurous. Im not looking into doing this for the money, I genuinely want to have the experience and fun of it. Therefore, I dont see why it is necessary to have a college degree. I haven't heard of a regional airline that looks for it.
I have looked at other ways to get your ATPL, many of them are a pay out of pocket deal. No financial aid, no FAFSA. Some are the same as the program I intended to go to- part fafsa but mostly private lended. Some are Community college things that have you get all of the necessary certifications while attending school for an associates degree. There is a college near me that offers a professional pilot program as a bachelors degree but the flight time is spread out thinly over the whole 4 years and it seems like you would be doing more unrelated general studies programs more than learning to fly. I found two community colleges, both in colorado, that offer it as an associates or certificate and have much more time flying all at once but cost alot if you are an out of state student like me (try $600 a credit hour) so I'm hung on what I should do here.
What im looking for:
A program that wont take forever to complete
A program that teaches me what i need to know, and gives me the proper licenses to fly as a career.
A program that will work with my FAFSA and does not need to be funded privately.
Yes, I realize that it must be prohibitively expensive to run any kind of flight training. Theres equipment, maintenance, fuel, instructor pay all to consider.
Im willing to travel anywhere in the continental US to do this.
I know this was long, but what do you guys think?
I have NO experience in aviation. Since I was young (younger than 5) I have always loved planes and anything related. When I was 18 I looked into going to become a pilot but found that its very unlikely to get any kind of employment in the field until you are 21-23. So I set it aside and lived life for a while. Now I am 24 and started on the path to getting into the profession.
The first thing I did was start to look into some ways to get the proper credentials to fly professionally. The "cheapest" and quickest reputable school I found was a place called Aviator College in Fort Pierce, FL. I contacted them and started getting myself setup to get started. The admissions contact convinced me that it would be prudent to fast track my entry to January 4th in order to avoid an eminent tuition increase. I started doing the necessary stuff required to move from where I live now, Maine, to Florida while maintaining contact and paying a couple fees to get into the school and get my transcripts sent over. Now, today, less than a month from heading out, I was getting nervous because even though I am approved for all the available federal financing I still haven't heard from the financial aid person AT ALL. I know I'll need private financing and they say they want you to wait for financial aid to help you apply for the private financing. I called repeatedly and nothing from them. Finally I gave up and took it into my own hands. I called the companies the school works with on the loans to get approved and they all said I need a cosigner. Cool. Call my parents and find out they can't cosign for me because they filed bankruptcy two years ago, therefore are forbidden from being on any loans for another 5 years. stonewalled man. So here I am, already am committed to move out of my place, my job is over (it was a temporary job, and I didn't look for another because I had been intending to move) and my plans for my next step are up in smoke. In a way it's my fault, if I had been more thoughtful I could have forseen this and checked the financing from square one.
My goal isnt to become a pilot for a major airline, I want to fly the smaller stuff and work for a smaller company. Sounds weird, I know, but it just seems more adventurous. Im not looking into doing this for the money, I genuinely want to have the experience and fun of it. Therefore, I dont see why it is necessary to have a college degree. I haven't heard of a regional airline that looks for it.
I have looked at other ways to get your ATPL, many of them are a pay out of pocket deal. No financial aid, no FAFSA. Some are the same as the program I intended to go to- part fafsa but mostly private lended. Some are Community college things that have you get all of the necessary certifications while attending school for an associates degree. There is a college near me that offers a professional pilot program as a bachelors degree but the flight time is spread out thinly over the whole 4 years and it seems like you would be doing more unrelated general studies programs more than learning to fly. I found two community colleges, both in colorado, that offer it as an associates or certificate and have much more time flying all at once but cost alot if you are an out of state student like me (try $600 a credit hour) so I'm hung on what I should do here.
What im looking for:
A program that wont take forever to complete
A program that teaches me what i need to know, and gives me the proper licenses to fly as a career.
A program that will work with my FAFSA and does not need to be funded privately.
Yes, I realize that it must be prohibitively expensive to run any kind of flight training. Theres equipment, maintenance, fuel, instructor pay all to consider.
Im willing to travel anywhere in the continental US to do this.
I know this was long, but what do you guys think?
