My name is Beau Steelman and I am currently in my Senior year at my University. I will be graduating with a Bachelors degree in May of 2019. I am currently researching my options to determine what my best route would be to take to follow my dream career in aviation. I would like some advice as to when you all think would be the best time for me to start applying for financial aid (loans), when I should apply to ATP and do my Intro Flight, and what housing and life as a student at ATP is like. Bear with me as I am a senior who is a bit nervous about his career and does not know how to feel about obtaining such a huge loan for my education. This is something I am definitely sure about, but loans have always made me a bit nervous. Any and all advice you could give me would be amazing and I’m sure the more this conversation goes, the more questions i will have.
Please check out the FAQ section as most of your questions will be answered there. After that, we will be happy to help answer any remaining questions.
Have you taken an introductory flight yet? If you haven’t, you need to. You can take one at any ATP location, or just about any other flight school out there.
There really isn’t any financial aid available other than the loans. You should start the whole process soon starting with the Intro flight. While it may be your “dream”, if you’ve never been up in a small plane you really don’t know for certain (and might not even after) until you’ve been up. Little point in getting loans, picking a start date etc if after the first flight you’re terrified or get deathly ill which does happen. Then I would start applying for loans. Unless you have a strong credit history and large income (which most students don’t) you’re going to need a co-signer so you could start working on that.
I appreciate large loans make you nervous, they have the same effect on most people. BUT if this is truly your dream there’s no better route and well worth the investment in your future.