Skywolf,

I am in a very similiar situation to you, except am a few years down the road and have already done a ton of research.

I did end up choosing to go to college for aviation. I did this because a local community college offered the degree so I could commute. The fact that I am living at home/community college rather than university kept the total cost to around $43,000. Despite knowing that this major isn't the best I chose it anyways for the opportunity to pay for flight training through scholarships (I was awarded about 10k worth) and because in aviation, a lack of knowledge can get you killed. I know plenty of people who have been trained by taking lessons on the weekends or whenever time allows, and are absolutely great pilots. I didn't want to gain my training that way however, because I feel like dedicating myself to two years of serious studying/nothing but aviation and flying has made me a better pilot than I would have been if I just took lessons in my spare time while making my major focus something else. Flying an airplane is a game where a few small mistakes can become the famous accident chain and I just really want to make sure I'm as prepared as possible to make the best decisions/be the best pilot I can be. So this is why I chose the college route, for an associates degree.

Of the 70 credits I took at the community college, 48 of them are transferring over to a university where I plan to get my bachelors degree in business admin (so its not like the 43,000 was wasted). This will be my real degree that I will actually use.

After college I'm hoping to fly for the military. *IF* I can get a flying job in the military (I say if because it is extremely competitive/tough and if you need any waivers your chances go way down) I would take it in a heartbeat, and afterwards maybe be able to get on with a good company like FedEX. If I could go from the military to a flying job making at least 70K with chances of advancement I'd take it. I saw a salary comparison page in the newspaper the other day and a 43 year old fedex pilot was making $143,800 a year. Not to bad, and if I could follow in his footsteps I would. If not, I'll do something else cause I'm not going to subject myself to the regionals or any other crap lifestyle job for all eternity to try to "work my way up."

So lets say the military doesn't want me to fly and my standards are to high to subject myself to the civilian route. I would prob still join the military anyways (flying would be great but I'd like to serve my country regardless), maybe be a crew chief or something else aviation related. If they are still offering free education through the GI bill I could turn the bachelors degree into a MBA and maybe end up managing an airport. Or manage an FBO. Or find some other way to get rich and just fly for fun. I'm telling you this because you asked about what some of the other aviation options are, those are a few that I have thought of that I would enjoy.