The best, the absolute best in my opinion, is to become an Aeronautical Engineer. People do double majors or minors in flight and get all of their pilot ratings at the same time. I wouldn't recommend this in terms of cost unless you are just rich, because "charging" it with loans is a dumb idea and it ends up costing a LOT more than it would otherwise in the end. Just remember that the cost of aircraft rental and instruction is up significantly from all the people that will post in this thread that trained 20 years ago. Remember that it will cost you MORE due to inflation and the price of some things going up much faster than inflation (gas, etc). 80K is probably more realistic with the multi-time that you'll need and a CFI certificate (this is a very good idea if you plan to be flying, it can possibly be used to "fall back on" or to "build hours", both of which are important). Go find a loan program and plug that in with a reasonable interest rate over 15 years and see how much it ACTUALLY costs to get some idea of how this industry and the training work.
By getting the Aeronautical Engineering degree, you open up a WORLD of possibilities. Things aren't great for pilots these days, many people will never make it to their dream job of flying an 747 across the ocean. The opportunities just don't exist. You "might" make it to a major, but you have to realize that may mean year after year of regional flying or being furloughed, etc. With the Engineering degree, you could work as an Engineer while getting additional ratings, getting work experience, actually learning about airplanes/aeronautical in ways that won't be possible in school, and then maybe down the road you can be a test pilot, because an Aeronautical Engineering degree is pretty much required for that, but if the pilot thing doesn't work out completely (as has been the case with so many pilots these days), you would have the ability to stay in aviation and do something related to airplanes with that Aeronautical Engineering degree. That is worth gold IMO, whereas some degrees aren't worth the paper they are printed on. It's only what you make out of it and the effort you put into it, but on the other hand, you would end up with far more opportunity than a pilot.