View Single Post
Old 01-17-2020, 03:49 PM
  #7  
BeezerJg34
Line Holder
 
BeezerJg34's Avatar
 
Joined APC: Jan 2008
Position: Going to get lunch...
Posts: 70
Default

That's a great question and the answer really lies in what you're looking for in your college experience. I'll give you the brief tale of two paths (my path and my friend's path) to give you an example.

My path:
4 year college degree (in aviation) at a private college with a flight program. Great instructors, great aircraft, great program overall plus I got the "college experience" aka met some lifelong friends, had a great time, etc. I learned SO much and still see some of what I learned benefit me where my colleagues who haven't had that education fall a little short. I got every one of my ratings there over 4 years. Overall cost just over $200k...my parents were nice enough to pay for the first 1.5 years, the rest I'll be paying for til 2037.

My friend's path:
Went to a local community college for 2 years to get all the core courses out of the way. Over that 2 years he got all his ratings (thru CFI) at a local flight school. Then, he got a CFI job in Florida and while working, finished up his Bachelor's degree at Embry-Riddle doing night and online classes.

Fast forward to today, we have the same job, in fact we work together. The only difference: he's student debt free. So, to answer your question, you have to look and see what is more important: quality education and the college life, or is the cost of education important where you want to limit the amount of debt? In any case, I hope this helps. Feel free to message me if I can help more!
BeezerJg34 is offline