awesomesauce17,
The fact that you are doing all this advanced research is fantastic. I am so pleased you are trying to find the right path to take. Wish I could say I did the same thing, but thats far from the truth.

If I had the chance to do it all over again, I wouldn't fly for a living. period. There is a difference between flying when you want to and flying because you have to. There is a difference between flying in nice weather with calm winds as a weekend warrior and flying in windshear at an airline. When you HAVE to fly it sucks all the passion you once had completly out of it.

My prefered route would be air traffic control. They get paid big bucks, they are still in aviation, they have awesome benifits and great retirement. Get a loan to put you through school. When you graduate you'll have enough to live well and pay off your loans. You'll even have the cash to get your ratings and a cessna to fly for $100 hamburgers on the your days off.

In my humble opinion, thats the best advice I can give. Thats what I would do if I had the choice. To be honest, its the passion for flying that I miss the most. I wouldn't want anyone to loose that.

Good luck to you in what ever you do!!! ;)

oops.. accidently posted twice..

I've never heard anyone say that before. Didn't even know FIT had an aviation program. I've always heard Purdue was the best followed closely by the airforce acadamy.

I visited five schools. Purdue, SIU-Carbondale, Central Missouri, Lewis, and SLU (parks). Stuck with parks because I'm from St. Louis, and at the time my grandfather was dying and my family was caring for him. Mom asked me to stay close to home. They also had the best financial aid for me since I went to a catholic highschool.

You're doing the right thing by visiting so many schools. Talk to current students, not just admissions. Find the one that's right for you, make sure you can afford it, and go.

kid needs advice
 

Young man you have so-o-o-o many options. Given your age, my advice and if I could do it over again would be to:

1. Attend a state university
(Acquire as many grants & scholarships as possible; minimize the loans).

2. Learn to fly at a local FBO. (PPL thru MEI).

3. Start instructing once you get your CFI. This will provide addtional finances.

4. Network like crazy. By the time you're 23, you should be ready to take your ATP written and pass. At that point, start calling on the contacts you've made. Also, joining the local Civil Air Patrol wouldn't hurt.;)

5. And last but not least...Choose your "friends" carefully. Bad company corrupts good behavior.

Best wishes. Blue skies.

6. And, uh, don't write bad checks.

Sorry, couldn't resist! :)

college advice
 

Heres my two cents:
I attend North Dakota. We have excellent facilities, new aircraft (piper, cirrus, diamond is tryin to get us to buy some), and the best part is for a four year university, it is extreemly cheap. I got residency after a year up here and pay around 4000 for tuition. Flight costs are much more, but will be any place you go. The good thing about UND is there are like 80 some majors to choose from. So if you decide to major/minor in something else, the door is wide open. Id highly recommend it over ERAU, the atmosphere is much more diverse, we have a $100 million hockey arena to cheer our sioux on, and is much MUCH cheaper. Some benefits of training at a part 141 school compared to part 61 are the hour requirements are less. You will spend less $$ on less hours while in the end getting all your ratings. I am getting ready to take my Commerical Multi/Instrument test and have around 200 hours total time. There are many who agree and prob even more who disagree with this, just my 2 cents

Good luck deciding

Just go to the USAF academy. Free school and if you qualify, free flight lessons.

OK! LOL. :)

True story, this would be by far your best bet. Your kinda late in the game now if you haven't already got your nomination and paperwork in. No worries though, keep your grades up a college this coming year and apply for the following year. I attend UND, but my brother attends USAFA (he wants to fly too), and I can see hes gonna get the better deal.