Slugger-

I went to UND and don't have mounds of debt. You can become a resident after one year. I did that and within one semester I had a Cultural Diversity Tuition Waiver, which covered 100% of in-state tuition. Although I did plan on a degree in Aviation Management (more of a business backgroud) I switched back to Commercial Aviation at the last minute as I had an oppourtunity at a regional and needed to finish fast. I can still go back, do a couple of courses and have another major if I want, so I don't consider it a waste of money at all, plus I finished right at 4 years. Do you need a degree in aviation - of course not. But UND is a great state college. I have many friends from there who are now in many different fields from ATC to Accounting. UND has very good Accounting/Engineering/Medical programs as well and UND is a very affordable school. One more thing, I left highschool with 12 credits all of which UND accepted. They will accept credits from most community colleges as well. If you really want to save some $$$ figure out which degree(s) you want from there and knock out all possible classes at home at a community college (or in high school) as you can. Many transfers there that I know were able to spend 2 years there after transferring their credits over.

One more thing to remember, if you fly at UND, they will make you re-take the private pilot ground school and an abbreviated flight course ( about 10 lessons) before you can move onto the other courses. So I would suggest that if you plan on flying to make sure to find out if you will need to retake other courses, such as instrument rating as well before you spend $ on it at your FBO. If you are motivated you can finish all of the flying courses in 2-3 years, and if you have a bunch of CC credits you may also have a degree with multiple majors.

Your sucess will ultimately depend on your motivation, so its in your hands. As for now I would say to focus mostly on academics and try to knock out as man AP type college credit classes as you can while still in HS. The faster you finish up the degree aspect of things the faster you can get into the industry which ever path you so choose.