HSLD

That pretty well sums it up. Most HR departments will tell you that past accomplishment is a good indicator of future performance when interviewing prospective employees.

If an employer sees an applicant with excellent grades and a BS in Physics, and another applicant without a degree. Who do you think they would score higher in terms of anticipated job performance? This is especially true in a technical job like piloting.

Of course it's supply and demand, and having a degree is not an absolute requirement as evidenced by thousands of pilots who do not have degrees. When the job market is tight, it pays to have the credential. I'd guess that if Age 60 passes, the job market will tighten up for a few years.

My opinion is that you shouldn't go to college just to fill a square. I say do it for yourself! If you choose the right school, the personal enrichment goes well beyond the job search and lasts a lifetime.

rickair7777

If you plan to spend your entire career at a regional, then get there as quickly as you can. Currently you can probably get hired at a decent regional without a degree, but this will change eventually. We are in hiring boom cycle now...and every previous boom has been followed by a bust
Note: Few people who have worked at a regional for any length of time actually WANT to spend their life there)

If you ever want to go to a major, you will need the degree. 26 is actually pretty young, many folks start at regionals in the their thirties or even forties. You are probably better off getting the degree first, I know plenty of regional captains with 6-8K hours who are slowly chipping away at their bachelors, one class at a time in between flying and family...not a lot of fun. I would suggest getting the ratings and starting work as a part-time cfi while you are in college...that is achievable if you can pay for it.

BoredwLife

I hear about this a lot. I am currently working on my MBA while on reserve and with no family and no kids it is difficult to do.

I say get the degree first if your so worried about your age pull 20 - 23 credit hours a semester and finish as fast as you can.

ryane946

"Seniority is everything." What flight school brainwashed that into your mind. Seniority is important. No doubt. But think about this. Your argument about getting a job right now is like: Two 18 year old kids graduate high school. One goes to work at Safeway saying, "Hey look, I am making more money than you." The smarter one goes to college, does not make any money for 4 years. But we all know who is WAY better off in the longrun. Yup, the kid who went to college.

You are 20 right now. If you continue college next semester, you can be done by 23. What's this 26 crap?? You can get your licenses and ratings during school. If you cannot do both at the same time, wait until you graduate. They should all take 6 months tops. And the way regionals are hiring right now, I would plan 6 months or so as a CFI. So you're talking 24 max. And that is fairly young.

If you do not get a college degree, your career will likely end at a regional, making 90k tops. If you go to college, your career will more than likely end at a major airline making 200k, or perhaps FedEx or UPS making 250k. BIG DIFFERENCE! Suddenly those 4 years at regional pay are made in less than a year at a major airline.

Seniority is important. But why? At a regional, seniority means you can upgrade. Why do people want to upgrade at a regional? Because they can get Pilot In Command (PIC) time, and that is what gets them hired at major airlines. Your upgrade is not nearly as important if you do not have a college degree because that PIC time does not mean you are on the road to the major airline.
Lets say you go to college, get hired at a regional at 24. You can stay there 8 years (which is a long time!!!), you are still only 32. Then you get hired at a major. You have 28 years of making the big bucks. Could be a difference of 2 MILLION+ DOLLARS over your entire career. Do not make this mistake.

mcartier713

Wow ryane.. thanks. you proved a very good point...

see the biggest problem for me is the whole college thing in general. I'm a pretty intelligent person, but I just cant seem to thrive in "formal education." which is why I wanted to go into the whole aviation field in the first place because originally I didn't think you needed a degree... Anyway.. Now that I'm out, what should I do? Just delay all my plans to fly for awhile and go back to school next semester?

Another issue is of course money.. I'm not the most well off person in the world, but im certainly not the worst.. Paying for school and flight training at the same time is gonna be quite the bill, how does everyone else go about paying for it all? Just loans?

favila008

Go to a state college, I'm currently going to California State University Long Beach and only pay $1,432 a semester. It is a great school, and only a couple of blocks from Long Beach Airport. The airport alone has a bunch of flight schools, including ATP, Flight Safetly, and a bunch of FBO's. If your really poor, and file FAFSA, the gov. will give you a grant that will pay for the whole thing, if your not that poor, you can easily work and pay those 1432. The trick is being off debt. Find a way.

BoredwLife

I went to a community college that had a flight program attached to it. This allowed me to pay as little as 900 a semester in tuition and also alllowed me to get federal funding to help for the flight portion. I still had to use a majority of the private loans out there, but believe me I am way better off than others I know. Just do as much of it as you can without student loans. They will killl you in the end when your at 1st-5th year FO pay at a regional. Believe I know from experience.

gknarf

I already have the degree down and am now considering a flight program for a career in aviation. One thing I've also considered is going on and getting my MBA (my BSBA is in Economics so the transition is fairly easy), but the real issue would come in paying for both at the same time. Would i get any real world edge from the masters as a pilot? I understand the fallback point-of-view but that is not really why I would do it now.

Photon

Is this college thing an american phenomena?
I can't think of anywhere in Europe or anywhere else for that matter where college matters this much

BoredwLife

The MBA might help a little bit but I dont think that much. Im doing it so I have something to fall back on.