First and foremost, I’d like to express my gratitude to this community for being an invaluable resource. Many of my questions have already found answers here.
As of now, I am 23 years old. It’s been five years since I graduated from high school, and during this time, I’ve been having a strong interest in the program that ATP offers. I’ve always dream of becoming an airline pilot, driven not by financial aspirations but by a respect for the aviation profession. My fascination with planes led me to self-study the subject a little bit, and it’s something I find incredibly captivating.
However, the substantial cost of flight training has been a major deterrent. The fear of incurring significant debt has held me back from pursuing this passion. At present, I am in my second year of college, working towards an Information Technology degree. While I do enjoy my classes and appreciate the knowledge I’m gaining in my current field, every time school gets hard, there’s always a lingering sense of regret that I haven’t pursued my dream of becoming a pilot.
My college education is sponsored by Starbucks, which means I am debt-free. Currently, I’m contemplating the idea of dropping out of college, securing a loan through Sallie Mae, and commencing my training, starting from scratch, next January. I acknowledge that this is a risky move, and I’m still apprehensive about incurring debt. However, I believe it may be a risk worth taking, as I anticipate that, upon securing a job with a regional airline, I will be able to comfortably repay my loan while enjoying a decent quality of life.
I am reaching out to seek advice from the experienced pilots in this community. What are your thoughts on my particular situation, and do you have any advice to offer?
I trust you mean it’s “hard” attending school without the desire. If you’re referring to it being difficult or challenging, I’m wondering what makes you think training in a highly accelerated aviation program (and/or airline newhire) training is easier. Trust me, it’s not. In fact the ATP program will make college seem like kindergarten. Further, while flying isn’t rocket science, it does require a level of intelligence and there’s also a physical component that makes aviation different from most careers. The reality is not everyone can or should be a pilot (regardless of desire). If in fact you’ve never been up in a small plane, before you spend another minute pondering a career flying you need to take an intro flight or lesson. The reality is you may love but you may not.
Next Major airlines want 4yr degrees. We highly recommend completing your education before you begin flight training. Not having a degree could negatively impact your career.
Long/short go for a flight and if it’s something you’d like to pursue, finish your degree first and then focus on training.
I would also warn you to check the fine print of the Starbucks tuition offer. It’s possible that if you just “drop out” and quit your job, you would owe back your tuition, putting you into a load of debt. I strongly recommend that you finish your degree and save up as much as you can to pay for flight training, and go for an intro flight as soon as you can.
Welcome to the forum and thank you for the introduction.
A few things here, I have no idea what Information Technology can pay, nut I doubt that it is substantially less than what an airline pilot can make. I am debt adverse as well, but if the debt is an investment, which further education and training certainly is, then it can make a lot of sense. I took out a loan to cover my flight training. I paid it off in half the time, but more importantly, that loan has allowed me to earn a salary way higher than I ever could have without it.
“every time school gets hard” - To be very clear, aviation is not just fun takeoffs and landings with dinner near the Eiffel Tower each week. Flight training can be very hard, it involves a significant amount of studying and some challenging flying. I found certain aspects of my flight training to be very difficult, nothing insurmountable, but definitely difficult.
I too would encourage you to go take an introductory flight, maybe even couple of flights, to see if this is really for you. As always, please feel free to ask us any questions that you may have.