I am 37. Career switching. Firefighter to Airline Pilot. Currently at a regional. My dad pushed me really hard to go to college at 18. Biggest mistake he made. I failed out.

Went to EMT and paramedic school. Got hired with fire dept after a few years. Was making 100k before I was 30 with no debt
Now I have 2 bachelor's degrees paid for by my employer. I took a student loan to pay for flight training, and now 10k is getting knocked off that.

With the current hiring environment I would say crank out the ATP or RATP (age factor 21 vs 23) as fast as possible. Do online school while getting flight hours as fast possible. The majors are not placing as much emphasis on the the degree. It's more about showing that you could start and finish it.

Personal opinion-. Baby boomer generation sold Gen X and millennials on this "you NEED“ a college degree bull****. Government went along with it. Universities made a ton of profit off it and its all a bunch of garbage. Now we don't have enough skilled trades people (including pilots).

He is just getting to 18. Depends if he wants to get an early start the at airlines at 21 vs 23. My kids are still young but I think the extra two years at the beginning of their career afforded by the R-ATP will be the best route if they decide they want to be pilots.

I found it extremely easy to get the bachelor's degree from liberty online while I was working full time with young kids and it got me the R-ATP in my early 30s. College is almost more about experience now if you go at ages 18-22. I don't think they really learn much.....girls...parties..etc.. It's fun, but getting a good career early will reep much better rewards. Ask any young man what he wants by age 30- it will be some version of good career, fast car, and hot wife. Airline Pilot at young age makes all that happen