I saved money and paid for my PPL in cash. I used a student loan to pay for the rest of my ratings in 2010, which came to about 42k. My payment is $372 per month. I'm doing better now, but even when I was making 25k a year as a line guy/cfi I had my own apartment and I could still make my payments on time. It would not be worth it if I was going to make 25k a year for the rest of my life, but pinching pennies for a year or two isn't so bad.