I went to Purdue and got the B.S. in Aviation. In that time I:

• Got every rating from PPL to CFII in my first two years, while in AFROTC for my first three semesters and training for a half-marathon with 21 credit hours in the fourth
• Instructed full time summers after both my sophomore and junior year
• Instructed part-time at Purdue my junior and senior years
• Flew the university King Airs, then got selected for the Beechjet program
• Interned part-time one of those summers I was full-time instructing with Chautauqua in Indy
• Flew Bob Rohrman around a little bit
• Instructed at FKR a little bit
• Worked as many as 3 part-time jobs (two instructing) at once my junior year while taking 18 credit hours
• Did a one year co-op with UPS in Louisville
• Flight instructed while working full-time for UPS
• Gained my MEI at Lafayette Aviation
• Did the Flight Team thing for three years
• Met my wife
• Drank lots of beer at Jake's and the Cactus
• Graduated Dec 05 after 9 semesters (due to the co-op) with 1050/100/60 turbine, four job offers, and a 3.8 GPA.
• Started at AWAC three weeks after graduation.

And anybody that knows me would tell you passionately that I'm not any smarter or better pilot than anybody else! Have fun while in college, but stay focused and bust your ass and you won't HAVE to build flight time after graduation because you did it while in school.

I attended out of state so I paid more tuition that way, but thankfully Uncle Sam and my parents helped lessen the financial blow for me. I wouldn't trade my educational experience in WL for anything, including a lower Sallie Mae payment.

Just my experience, your mileage may vary...but one path is no better or worse than another, just different.