The ATC program is completely worthless now a days since the FAA has recently stopped giving preferential treatment to ATC program graduates, so I wouldn't use that as a back up.

You might want to look into ERAU's aerospace engineering program or the UAV program instead.

As for flight training, don't write off part 61, even though the hour requirements are different for the individual courses, you may save quite a bit of money over the long run.

Just for the sake of comparison (and inserting a shameless plug). I'm based in New Smyrna, and charge 40/hr for instruction and $105/hr (plus a small fuel surcharge) for a 172. Just imagine how much more flight time your could have put in your logbook compared to Riddle!