Hello there, I have been wanting to be a pilot since I’ve know what a pilot was, I’m currently 25 years old and went ahead and did all the necessary research and such, but is there any other way someone who has low income can be qualified for these loans? both me and my parents don’t make enough to be qualified I have used both of them but still end up not being qualified. At this point I’m not sure what to do. Is there any other options?
Joey,
Flight training is expensive and unfortunately the cost is often the biggest obstacle many aspiring pilots face. Most don’t have the funds so they take out loans.
If you and your parents don’t qualify you may just have to wait until you do. Save your money to reduce the amount of the loan and also build your credit. I’m sure you don’t want to wait but if this is really what your want to do it’s worth it.
Adam
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Joey,
Is there anyone else that would be willing to cosign on your loan? If not, time and building your own credit history and savings is the only way unfortunately. Trying to pay as you go one rating at a time is tempting but trust us when we say it’s a bad idea. You’ll be going 3 steps forward, 2 steps back and burning money faster than you can earn it.
Hannah
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Joey,
There’s three common ways you can pay for flight training:
- Financing through a lender like Sallie Mae (or whoever you can acquire financing through)
- Paying outright out of pocket or using G.I. Bills to help cover some of the costs (not all)
- Finding grants or scholarships (which are extremely RARE) through organizations such as AOPA, or University
At your age, I would recommend building some credit and saving money, start simple. You don’t need to go buy a car or house, find a credit card that you can start building credit. Buy a pack a gum once a month and continuously make on-time payments. For saving money, find a budget, live at your lowest means necessary, and find a good yield savings account.
As Hannah mentioned, do you have a cosigner that may be available to sign for you?
Brady
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Those are some amazing ideas thank you so much y’all it’s been very helpful I’ll try too look for some scholarship. As for bills i don’t have any just my phone which is 25 bucks and yeah I’m gonna try and save as much as i can so can start paying for it myself
At the moment, i don’t have anyone but as someone else previously mentioned I’ll just work harder and save all the money so i can reach it thank you for all the advice.
Thank you so much Adam, I’ll just wait and just save my money. Appreciate you taking the time to reply.
Joey,
You probably won’t find many scholarships. Those that offer scholarships have very strict criterion and requirements as they are practically giving you the money to go learn to fly, in return, giving back to the aviation community, as well. I wouldn’t bank on scholarships; however, there are a few out there, and rare to come by.
Brady
Thank you so much Brady for the reply. by any chance do you know any scholarships I could apply to? i’m currently working two jobs just to at least save up a little. the program i’m currently interested in is about 70K. which is not a lot tbh… again thank you.
Joey,
Off the top of my head, I do not know of any scholarships. These types of scholarships are far and few between available, and most of the time you must be a member of those organizations putting them together. I would keep an eye out and see if any would be available to you, personally. I’d recommend Googling here and there to see if you could find one or two.
While the cost of flight school may seem taunting, the rewards and benefits as you’re going through, building your time, and then working for your dream job is very rewarding - which may subside the taunting feeling.
Brady