Join the guard or reserves and use the GI Bill to pay for flight training and college.

A decade ago people were saying the exact same thing.... just sayin'

A decade ago the pinnacle of MANDATORY RETIREMENTS weren't right around the corner.... I never said there was a pilot shortage as your slighlty referring to in how you responded to that, however I believe there is a shortage of the "Willing" I think. So the fact that hiring IS PICKING UP.. More jets being produced, more pilots retiring, more people traveling, MORE PILOT HIRING...

Got news for you, they didn't hire all the current pilots in one year. Yes, there was a slight hiccup with a 5 year "postponement", but people are retiring all the time. If anything, you should learn from the age 65 rule: So many pilots were desperate to come out with something after their airline previously folded (TWA, etc) and they were left with nothing so they were forced to keep flying and on the job well into their late years. This was a windfall to the pilots who had to switch airlines or had to go through massive downsizing/cuts. Look past how great it is going to be for you that hiring is going to be trickling and realize that there are much more important things than getting pilot ratings super fast, like saving up money for retirement and having financial flexibility. More jets being produced? Well, sure, but have you seen how many are abandoned in the desert? Even 757s now. Are more jets being produced to expand flying at the major level, or to replace old aircraft and cram more people into a confined space? I'm not trying to be all doom and gloom intentionally, but the idea that "the best time" is right around the corner has been the greatest myth perpetuated in the training and recruitment environments.

Got news for me??? Who the heck said anything about all the pilots being hired in a year? The mandatory retirements are only beginning their cycle... It stretches well into 2030 from the industry/pilot statistics... As far as money for retirement, etc being of importance... Your not telling me any new news... I paid for a 4 year degree, have saved for ALL my flight ratings, and am debt free so I think I'm doing ok for 22.. Just saying thats not really what we are talking about here. Again, there has never been nearly as many retirements as there are going to be in the time period I've just laid out, NOT A YEAR....

OK, so I can get financing through Sallie Mae this way? That was my question thank you.

As far as is this a good idea, I do not see why not. I currently have no debt, a ppl and close to 200 hours. My college is already fully paid for, so I won't spend anything on that. I will pay for as much as I can myself, but I don't think I'll be able to save up enough before I turn 22 or 23. The full cost a training might end up being something like 22k since I already have a lot of time built.

The way I see it. There doesn't seem to really be a way around around the costs of training. It's cheaper at a 61 school sure, but it also takes longer and often requires repetition if you are paying as you're going. So, in the end what am I really saving.

I only make about 13k a year now, why wouldn't I just invest 25k now and get a cfi job making 22k - 28k? I would end up making more in the long run wouldn't I? Not to mention what 1 year or 2 of seniority can mean, Sorry I'm just not seeing how this is a bad deal. I'm young everything is gonna suck at first, but of all the schools I've visited this one sucks the least.

Stirrin, glad I could answer your question. You sound like your in pretty much as good of a position as one could hope for IF getting loans is the plan and going forward without too much difficulty. I am debt free like you and was set for a loan of $28,000 until I found money elsewhere without interest and no timeline (AKA Family).. I wasn't worried about the loan though at 3.8% with no early repayment penalties.

First, you will need to convert your PPL into a Private Pilot Certificate because that is what we have in the US.

Second, most of the cost of the commercial certificate is building time. You are well on your way at 200 hours to the CASEL cert. Start by getting the instrument rating and your time will be close to Commercial. Then get CASEL/CAMEL and you are immediately employable with just 2/3 ratings that you have had to pay for. Look around for a job at that point, if after a set amount of time you don't find a flying gig then pursue CFI...

This way you are not "all in" financially when you could have saved some cash. I instructed for 6 months and then got hired at a 135 place. My CFI is not even being used now and I can't get a refund.

There don't seem to be a whole bunch of low time pilot jobs out there.

I would say tread carefully man. While loans can be survivable and sometimes a good idea, you have to watch your step.

When I wanted to get my PPL I was going to get a loan because I wanted to do it all in one shot instead of spread out over a longer period of time. I went to a lot of misc. lenders and when you are young and don't have much credit history it can be tough. Pilot Finance tried to hook me up with a loan at a laughable interest rate. It was 8.5k for the training and they were going to charge me 12.5k total! They're reasoning was if you made all payments on time you would get a 3% rebate on the interest, but even still, it's crazy.

Bottom-line don't settle for any high interest loans just because you are determined to get the money. Once you sign for it you are in.