How to: Pay for Flight School

"How do I pay for flight training?"

This question is asked quite often on r/flying, and I thought I'd write this to help newcomers navigate funding flight training.

Now, flight training alone will cost around 80,000-120,000 dollars of the United States variety.  That's no chunk change for many of us. Now, if you can get to an airline, even a regional airline, that will pay for itself in the long run. But coming up with 100 grand to begin with is the hard part. So let's examine the methods you can pay for flying: 

Out of pocket

Meaning save and pay as you go. This isn't feasable for many, but it is the most recommended method. Why? No debt! Debt is killer. You might say "oh, but I don't want to be in my 30s before I get to fly airliners!" Many people don't start flying at airlines until they're in their 30s or 40s. There's no age limit. If you need to pay for training with a decent job and budgeting, there's nothing wrong with that. 

Loans

Oh boy, loans. I would not recommend loans to anyone. Many places such as ATP Flight School (please read my post linked on ATP Flight School if considering) advertise they'll accept loans from places such as Sallie Mae. Please read my post on loans if you're considering loans. Seriously, read it. These loans are unsecured, meaning the risk for lenders is high, which means they will give you a huge interest rate, around 15-18% these days. With that being said, if you go to a college aviation program, you could take out Federal loans, which have a much lower interest rate. However, I would only consider doing the college route if it makes flying + degree cheaper. Read my post on college aviation programs here. DISCLAIMER: as of writing this post, the BBB Bill has been signed into law which limits the lifetime federal loans to 257,000 per person. This is definitely below the total cost of attending expensive schools such as Embry-Riddle. If you have a house, you could consider a HELOC or something similar to pay for training, but rates for those are pretty high too these days. Not as bad as unsecured loans though. If you do decide to do loans, it's often recommended here to get your PPL out of pocket first, before you take on a ton of debt. The reason being is around 90% (or more) of student pilots will drop out and not continue flying. 

Scholarships

Yes, they exist! And many of them barely have any applicants. You just have to find them. AviationStart has a list (Disclaimer, I have not yet looked at it). You may be able to find more by looking at local organizations, such as local EAA and Women in Aviation chapters and regional pilot organizations (eg state pilot organizations, etc). Aviation Careers Podcast also has a list your can purchase for $10.

GI Bill

Uncle Sam will pay for your flight training if you give him your life for a few years. If you use your GI Bill, you can get a degree and your flight training at the same time with a college program. If you already have a degree, you can still use your GI Bill at a flight school that is approved by the VA. There is a thing about it not working for your Private Pilot license, but I'm not super familiar with the GI Bill, as I'm not a veteran. The resource that veterans should look into is RTAG

Please read my post on college aviation programs here. I do want to touch on college programs. I know it's not a a method of paying, but it is something to think about. You will need a degree to get to an airline. Yes, airlines don't say it's required anymore, but 99% of applicants at airlines have a degree. Now, it is often recommended on r/flying to get a degree in something that isn't aviation, as an aviation degree is worthless. As someone who has one, yeah, it is. A degree in aviation is not required, and a different degree could provide either a backup, or a stepping stone to pay for flight training out of pocket. But, I got an aviation degree because it was actually cheaper for me to do than if I paid for flying separately. I had tuition remission, and others have GI benefits, which both of those may make getting a degree and flight training cheaper. Merit scholarships and federal grants can also help reduce cost. And if that's what you do, nothing wrong with that. What is wrong/bad decision is when you spend way more money at a "premium university" to do flight training....

Efficiency

Now, let's talk about efficiency. This part may end up being it's own post eventually. But once you start training, it's on you on how much you spend. I've instructed many people. Not as many as some here, but enough to know this: you must self study. If you don't, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Er, well, pocket. If you don't show up prepared, that's just additional time you're going to have to spend with an instructor (and paying them) to teach you. Ground instruction is going to happen, but if you study beforehand, and come with questions, you are now guiding the discussion towards things you don't know. If you don't come prepared, well, now you don't know anything, and your instructor will have to teach everything, and will probably have to review it later with you. On top of online ground schools, the FAA has free manuals and handbooks that you can read. I recommend the Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge and the Airplane Flying Handbook. The Aeronautical Information Manual is also useful, but significantly more dry reading than the other two. You instructor will also be able to guide you to other books and resources. 

Another thing about efficiency: how often you fly. I have found that flying around 3 times a week is best. Your brain is like a muscle, it needs to rest. Learning new things is hard, and 3 times a week seems like a great sweet spot for building those neural pathways and giving your mind a rest. 2 times a week is ok, but you will probably extend your learning timeline a little. Once a week is not enough, you're not building any meaningful neural pathways at this point, and you will only extend your training timeline, and increase costs. Any more than 3 can be fine, but if you're finding yourself making the same mistakes over and over, give your brain a rest (few days, a week) and come back to it.

Conclusion

Learning to fly is expensive. The return on investment could be very good. But that depends on if you follow through (the number that gets thrown around is 90% of student pilots don't complete their PPL!), and have good timing. As of the time I've written this, hiring has taken a steep downturn. People aren't getting jobs at the hiring minimums anymore. Will that change when you're done with training, or, to the person who may find this post several years from now, will it have changed? Yes. In what direction, better or worse, I cannot say. But, what I'm trying to say is if you have a passion to fly, make it work, many of us made sacrifices to fly. It's a great career, and we'd love to have you join us.