I took out a Sallie Mae (terrible customer service) loan for ATP aswell, and after signing the contract, had a constant uneasyness about the amount I would have to pay back. It was a $59,990 loan, from private to multi/cfii/blah blah blah.. I stopped the program after finishing my ppl because I didn't want to blindly go into it (plus a few other factors which don't go along with this topic thread). I have a family, the payments were going to be $870/mo, and if I am working as a CFI, I wouldn't be able to pay much more than that. It would of totalled $123k for the loan payback. I'm 29 years old, have my ppl, and am going to try to take out a MUCH smaller loan from the bank or somebody and just get my single engine INST/COMM/CFII at the local flight school. I will take it step by step, if it works out, then it works out, if not, then I know I won't have an enormous loan hanging over my head and conscience for the next 20 years. I still haven't finished my 4 year degree, so I'm being realistic about it. Maybe I can be a part time CFI for the rest of my life while working a day job, or maybe the aviation industry will grow like crazy in the next few years and they will start hiring pilots without 4 year degrees. Who knows? I guess to keep on the topic at hand, I DO NOT recommend taking out a loan that big unless you have the means to pay for it outside of working as a CFI. I suppose if you're 21 years old and don't mind living in a rundown apartment and eating ramen noodles for several years, you can do it. That being said, I wish I was young again..
Flying is a wonderful thing to do as a job, and everybody(most people) must sacrafice. Either you sacrafice a huge amount of money for training, or you sacrafice a huge chunk of time out of your life to go to the military.