Hello,
I’m new to this forum but i have question regarding financial aid or any sort of scholarship to fund my training. Do any of you know if there is such thing as financial aid or scholarships that will help you toward your training. I really want to get started with my training but i’m struggling financially. Any suggestions helps.
Thank you.
Purna,
While there is financial aid and scholarships available for universities there’s none I’m aware of simply for flight training. The majority of students take out loans.
Adam
Purna,
I recommend you visit the following site which provides access to aviation specific scholarships:
Purna,
Unfortunately, I am not aware of any scholarships for flight training, other than a few odd ball ones that do not provide significant resources enough to provide for any real amount of flight training. Of course there are loan options available, so you can look into that.
Chris
You could checkout AOPA’s flight training scholarships. You have to be a member to qualify though.
I know that question was asked a while ago, so anyone has knowledge of current scholarships available right now? Maybe for people of color.
Thanks
Marwan,
Check out OBAP (Organization for Black Aerospace Professionals) Scholarships - ORGANIZATION FOR BLACK AEROSPACE PROFESSIONALS
Adam
Marwan,
Unfortunately there aren’t many scholarships out there and the ones that are, don’t cover as much of your professional flight training as you’d like. Many range from a few hundred dollars to $10k or so. The reality is, professional flight training is very expensive. Most people take out a loan and your future career earnings pays it off. I don’t want to be discouraging you. I just want you to have a realistic idea of how most people finance flight training.
-Hannah
Hello everyone,
I’m fairly new on this forum, and i was just looking around for answers like everyone else since i want so pursue my dream of becoming a pilot. I feel like the hardest thing when trying to become a pilot is finding a school especially with all the options out there and that’s really my biggest struggle right now. I sure did a-lot of researching, I have been researching since 2018 when i was 16 years old and now Im 20 and still not giving up, this is just the introduction to my question hahaha. What really blows my mind is why flight school in general and ATP in specific doesn’t offer any type of federal financial aid although i found probably about one flight school that’s located in Florida that does offer FAFSA options.
Thank you,
Yassin.
Yassin,
It really shouldn’t “blow your mind”. In the 4yrs you’ve been researching you should’ve come to understand that traditionally (but not exclusively) FAFSA aid is generally only available for colleges and universities (which ATP is not). More important ATP is a Part 61 school which allows greater flexibility in the training and therefore allows ATP to highly accelerate the training (this is also the reason students can’t use VA benefits as they limit the money per year).
While i understand for many this an obstacle, it’s also the reason ATP grads are at the airlines getting paid and building seniority years before those who go to college programs funded by FAFSA money.
Adam
Hey Adam,
The school Im talking about is flight school just like ATP not a university so this is why i was kind of confused L3 harris is the name .
Yassin,
Again, if you’ve been researching for 4yrs you should have come across the following directly from the L3 Harris website:
Federal Direct Stafford Loan Program
“The Federal Direct Stafford Loans are low-interest student loans for flight schools available to help cover the cost of pilot training courses. This flight school loan is designed to support students undertaking a four-year pilot training course at a college, university, or other higher education establishment”.
In other words students seeking an aviation degree in conjunction with L3’s pilot training may be eligible for federal loans.
Adam
Adam,
From what I read on L3Harris’ website, the Federal Stafford Loans only apply to the PPP program (not their AAPT) which is 15 months, not 4 years. Do you know how this is possible?
Ben
No clue. What I quoted is what I found. Give them a call if you’re interested.
What I do find interesting is that a school that claims to have been in business for over 40yrs, only has a hand full of success stories which includes, my favorite, a pilot who is actually an ATP grad but instructed there 
Adam
Hello,
I was looking at some information about letter of recommendations and realized I posted here 2 years ago when I was researching about flight schools. So I decided to stop by on this forum and thank you guys for the help, I’ve joined ATP about four months ago got my private and currently working on Instrument.
I do have some questions about letters of recommendation but i will ask that on a different forum so we don’t get things mixed up here. But once again thank you guys so much.
Yassin,
I am glad that it worked out for you. Congrats on the private, keep those ratings coming.
Chris
Yassin,
Fantastic news, that is wonderful to hear. As someone who came to this forum 5 years ago, I know the feeling of coming back to the forum after a milestone. Please keep us posted on your journey, would love to hear another success story. 
Brady