Is it possible to get a loan or student loan to pay for 100% of a flight training program?
Question by DowntownJB: Is it possible to get a loan or student loan to pay for 100% of a flight training program?
If I enroll in a college that offers all ratings are there student loans that will cover 100% of flight costs, what about if I was to just get training from a non-college training center. what’s my best bet, its either that or off to the military for education benefits I can use three years later.
Best answer:
Answer by MrAUDU
There are multiple routes available to you to become a pilot. At 17 you can go to a private pilot training school, generally located at the airport and begin to take flying lessons. Also you can locate a community college that offers the same sort of training. Keep in mind that these schools are very expensive. If you want to go the military route you will need to go to college, earn a degree and commission in order to apply for flight school in the military. There is no expense to you, in fact they pay to go! Also in college you may opt for a ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) program that earns your commission prior to graduation. The Army will let you fly as a Warrant Officer, all other branches require you to be a commissioned officer prior to entry into the flight training.
Airlines prefer the military option because the training is infinitely more extensive and demanding. By the way, there is no book that can be read and it will allow you to fly with an ATR (Airline Transport Rating). An ATR is the final step is the learning to be an airline pilot process and even military pilot training is not a ticket to an ATR certificate.
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No. At best all you can get is partial financing using student loans, and that is for flight training AND tuition. The maximum undergraduate loan limit is about $ 20,000 per year times 4 years, and that’s only IF you qualify and are enrolled in a degree program. For a 2-year program, then the max would be about $ 40k. After you deduct tuition and other costs likes books and housing, what’s left can be put toward flight training. It usually won’t be enough to cover more than about half of your flight training. You may only use Federal student loans for a college-based program. However, many flight schools have affiliations with colleges / universities but arent actually owned by those institutions, giving you more options. If they have no college affiliation, you may not use educational loans for them. At a school like Embry-Riddle, which costs over $ 200,000 for 4 years including housing, undergraduate loans won’t even cover all of the tuition much less flight training. Cost-wise, one of the best deals in the USA is Big Bend Community College in Oregon: http://academics.bigbend.edu/programs/aviation/Pages/default.aspx/pages/