Tyler,
Before you commit to your local FBO, or any flight school, please ask them these questions: Questions For Any Prospective Flight School
I would strongly disagree with the notion that ATP only cares about the money coming in, in fact quite the opposite. Look at this forum, it is provided free to you and we don’t act as salesmen at all. You will see us recommend other flight schools to people and sometimes tel somebody that aviation isn’t for them. Sure, we all went to ATP so our experiences are from there and we share those with people, but we are not pushy.
ATP had an admissions department that vets all of their applicants, they don’t just accept somebody because the person has the money to pay for it. They want to make sure that the person will do well in flight training and be a good fit for the school, that is not an organization that only cares about the money.
ATP trains hundreds of new pilots per year, there are bound to be a few that don’t do as well as we would have liked, that is just the nature of the business. What those students should do is contact management and either air their concerns with their instructors or remove themselves from the program and take advantage of ATP’s refund policy that is in my opinion very fair. Instead many of them have chosen to go online and become keyboard warriors.
Lastly, look at the list of ATP pilots that have moved onto the airlines, this is a company that knows how to train airline pilots: https://secure.atpflightschool.com/AirlinePlacements/
As to your family, I would recommend not moving them with you for your training, it will be a huge distraction. Take advantage of ATP’s housing and ask the admissions department if they have any free housing specials going, sometimes they do.
Chris