Hello guys and girls , I hope you are doing good. I am doing ok myself. I posted here about a month ago in regards to me taking out private loans to pay for flight training. Right now I am a third year college student and I will be graduating next year summer I will be about 22 years when I graduate. I will have 100k in federal student loans and if I take out private loans for flight school I will be over 200k in debt. Given the advice here, that debt is worth it since career earnings will repay that. My parents are scared and don’t want me to take on more debt. They believe that if I take out private loans my life will be ruined. So they want me to join the military but that is a very competitive process and very time costly as well. It is not even guaranteed I become a officer let alone a pilot in the Air Force in the next 3 years or so. To be honest, my heart is not into the military so I would clearly be at a disadvantage motivationally wise compared to those that actually want to be in the military. I don’t know what to do 
I really want to be an airline pilot and I feel like that is never going to happen, especially given how now is the best time to become a career airline pilot. I have honestly been losing sleep over this. Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you.
Divine,
This is something I suppose you need to sort out with your parents (as I’m assuming you’d need them to co-sign?).
I have to be honest however as I can’t really relate. I was out of the house at 18 and have been making my own decisions since. While I agree that joining the military for free flight instruction is a bad idea, you are wrong about being an officer. If you’ve got a 4yr degree, you will be an officer but getting a flying slot is questionable?
I’m wondering if it’s not just the money but you’re parents wondering about how serious you are or not or even if you can actually fly? Perhaps if you used your own money and earned your PPL you would demonstrate your resolve and ability to actually fly.
Adam
Divine,
Take a look at this link, it might be helpful to go over it with your parents.
Chris
Divine,
That’s quite a bit of debt so I understand your family’s hesitation. Have you taken an intro flight yet? If not, do that first so you have a little more realistic expectation of what training could be like. If you come back wanting more, you could start with just your private and and see how that goes. Like Adam said, maybe that could be something to encourage your parents as potential co-signers that you’re very serious about this endeavor.
If you decide to pursue the ATP program, once you graduate you can apply to one of the dozens of pathway programs to start signing bonuses and tuition reimbursement that will help pay off your flight school loan right away.
Hannah
My understanding of officer candidate school is that it’s not guaranteed and it’s a very selective process. The acceptance rates appear to heavily vary by year but tend to fall between 10% and 60% depending on the branch.