GL,
Unfortunately for the most part this is an anti-academy forum so it will be difficult, not impossible to find some people with positive things to say about the academies.

I would not pay for it, but now that they mention it i would enjoy a more structured training environment. I love the military and how it works and i like the structured environment. It surprises me when people say a school scares them simply because you have to wear a pilot shirt and khakis. There are worse things that can happen and i would rather be associated with a school that looks professional then the alternative...ive seen what some people consider appropriate civilian attire and it is scary, but that is just my oppinion and to each is own.

As for using your GI benefits...i am a big ATP advocate but they do not accept VA....use them..people have said the savings are minimal..and i assure you that they are not. Debt is the devil more then the devil himself and i will give you this example. Ari-Ben charges roughly 31k for their program, your out of pocket cost will be roughly 18k total (this is confirmed) that is saving 13k and in some cases a little more. That is far from nothing in the long run.

As far as using your GI bill for school...absolutely, do that too. Now factor this, using my above calculation and factoring that the GI benefits equal 36k, subtract 13k from that and it still leaves you 23k for school after you have all of your private pilot ratings. You can absolutely 100 percent get a degree for that kind of money.

Here is what i did. Clep out of the majority of your general education classes, they are roughly 100 dollars per test (if you are still active duty they are free) and if you score well enough you will recieve credits for that general education course at most every accredited college so you will not have to take those classes.

Next..as far as your military training and education. You have credits built into your military training that are universally accepted again at most accredited colleges and these will count towards your electives. I have enough credits through the military where i do not have to take a single elective credit class.

Next..the required courses, you will have to take these but if for some reason you do a degree in aviation the required courses are your ratings that you will get regardless and the groundschool associated with them. It sounds too good to be true but you can achieve a degree for little money for only physically doing a few actual courses from the school, and those can be done online. A degree is much easier then some say and if you go about it inteligently and are methodical in your research it will surprise you how easy it is.

So that is my story. Your GI bill is worth something, you should use it for training to avoid debt and you will still have enough left over for a degree, albeit not Harvard or Yale, but Continental, or Southwest and especially Xjet will not care where it is from, as long as it exist.

Good luck on your research though, i hope you find what you are looking for.