That’s a shame because I was working full time when I was working on my degree, taking anywhere from one to five classes a semester. I guess I should scratch Delta and FedEx off my list then.

I would really like to know the percentage of college grads that were able to complete college in 4 years without help from Mommy and Daddy. My only friends that made it happen within 4 at least had their living expenses covered by their parents. To me this is a very dumb way to measure candidates, and it hurts those that may have taken even one extra year as they didn’t have everything given to them.

Unless Delta wants purebreds from upper class families.....

I had a professor say the average for a bachelors is now six years. Mine took me longer than that because I tried the pay as you go way and I was working full time so I was taking between one and five classes a semester. Towards the end I used student loans to finish quicker. I agree, it is a dumb way to measure candidates. In my opinion as a hiring manager at AT&T, I noticed those who took longer were usually more dedicated employees and less likely to give up. I had nothing given to me and was on my own for my college degree.

I gotta disagree with this. For sure I would get a backup degree, NOT one in aviation. I have a master of science I've used during furloughs and is relevant to a side flying job I'm doing right now. Over the years it has allowed me to not paint myself into a corner. Investing in a worthwhile degree is the best investment you can make in yourself and the most worthwhile insurance you'll ever pay for.

If you want my advice, the best thing an aspiring pilot could do is get a master's degree in some skill they could carry with them the rest of their life. Mine involves a lot of lab research (among other things). I had college buddies who went into wastewater treatment (sewage plants). Two of them eventually got into law enforcement, but every year they go to wastewater conferences and keep their certifications current. At least one of them plans to retire from law enforcement shortly and get back into water treatment. He always valued having the degree in his back pocket to fall back on. Plus having a degree helps advance in general even in his cop job. As I said in a previous post, I've used my master's when times were tough at the airlines. It hasn't always been the most lucrative, but it's better than doing unskilled labour when I was furloughed or didn't want to take a displacement or something. So, my advice is to do something like this with a degree and slowly build up flight time while doing it at a local airport. Make flight instruction your part-time job while getting the degree.

The 2nd best choice would get a bachelor's degree in anything but aviation and flight instruct part-time while doing that. My first degree was in history, which was kind of useless for a specific job, but it was something to build off of and getting a degree at a state college is far, far cheaper than going to an aviation college.

3rd best choice would be getting a 2-year degree at a technical college that teaches aviation. It would be useless for anything but 91, 135 and regional flying, but again a lot cheaper than a 4-year aviation college.

My last choice would be a 4-year aviation degree. It's useless for anything but flying and it's totally cost prohibitive. Some previous poster asked how many pilots had their educations paid for by their parents. I'm willing to bet almost 100% of the ones that went this route did. In my middle-class situation, there is no way on God's green earth myself, or my parents could afford that. And although I took on some student loan debt for college (also had the GI Bill and a part-time job) it pales in comparison to what kind of debt I would have had to take on to go to an aviation college. I'd still be paying it off! And, I guess if you have the silver spoon that could buy this plan for you then you really don't have to worry about having a degree to fall back on anyway because you have your family inheritance for that. I'm not trying to sound all Bernie Sanders, but just stating a fact that different people have different situations and different safety nets. I wouldn't go this route unless I had a HUGE family financial safety net!

Learn from other people’s mistakes. I did the 4 year aviation degree and ended up putting myself in a world of hurt. And I even had a parent that paid for it. I became a pilot right before 9/11 so I think everyone knows what the industry was like after that. I was making 25,000/yr at the top of the payscale with no upgrade in sight. I cut my losses and moved on, but it was very difficult with an aeronautical science degree. Please don’t listen to the propaganda from the big aviation universities and academies. They do not have your best interest in mind. Some form of a backup career or degree is an absolute must.

Not everyone can afford to get their ratings another way. If I could change one thing I would’ve dual majored or stuck around for a masters. I don’t regret getting an aviation degree because I would probably have not been able to finance my ratings otherwise.

Who doesn't? :p

Same.. lol