Getting a loan

[kygreen229]

Hey guys my names Kyle and im new to the site. Ive been interested in being a heli pilot ever since I can remember. Im 21 years old and really have wanted to get my flight training started. I tried once last year with Sallie Mae and I believe I could have went about it wrong. Ive always had good credit but now that another year has gone by and I paid some things off and what not last time I checked I have excellent credit for my age and time in the crediting world. So in saying that I'm curious as to how gettting around 60K for flight training would work. If you apply online and ask for the full amount like I did last time I got denied. I know having a cosigner would help but dont currently have anyone that could cosign. So I'm hearing that they would give you dispersments of the loan...so would that mean that you would have to qualify for the whole amount or do you apply for say 20K? If you get approved for that how do you know if you will get the money to go on?

 

Also I was thinking of going the route through Utah Valley University online. Anybody have any experience with this college and getting financing through them? Thanks guys for any advice!

 

-Kyle

[yzchopper]

Kyle,

When I was using Sallie Mae for my students they required that you start small on your first amount to be borrowed. He is what one of my students did. He asked for $20,000.00 and he got $11,000.00. After 3 months of on time payments he reapplied and asked for $12,000.00 more and he got the full $12,000.00 The Sallie Mae rep. told me that you have a 40% chance of getting approved the first time and when approved you then have an 60-75% chance of approval for the remaining amount. Now if you had a cosigner that approval status changes to this: first request is 60% chance of approval and when approved the second request is closer to 85% chance of approval. Sallie Mae really, really likes you to have a cosigner though. More of a guarantee that they will get paid. Also if you tried already and were denied then you will have to have a cosigner when you try to reapply. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

Steve

[kygreen229]

yzchopper,

 

thanks alot that does shed some light. ya i dont currently have a cosigner due to family lack of work mostly. my dad has excellent credit but has been a little unfortunate on the emloyment side lately. last time i tried(about a year ago), i tried by myself but didnt know what i was doing and asked for the full amount and got denied. then tried with my mom but she was going through some financial trouble at the time and still got denied so i pretty much gave up and was really bummed. i have excellent credit i have found out but like you said big loan and they would really like a cosigner. hmmm. I have heard doing the Utah valley university way is a good way to go if you want to do college courses at the same time...just seems like it would be a huge work load between learning to fly and college and +-30 hours of work a week.

[csw1000]

I am currently in the UVU program, I think it is a good way to go. I should be receiving my first $5k in about a week or so. You can get a Pell grant, and apply for (guaranteed approval) Stafford loans. I got a little over $7k for my first semester and after tuition I have the 5 left for training. It will still take a little extra dough from private loans, but now I will only need to borrow about half as much overall, plus the interest on the Staffords is a lot less than the private loans will be. It will take a little more time, but I will also end up with an Aviation B/S degree, and let me tell you, at the age of 35 I really, really wish I would have gotten a degree at your age, heli's or not. If you really want this as a career and are not a millionaire then UVU is a pretty good option. If you want more info feel free to pm me. Best of luck.

[yzchopper]

Here is another tip. Sallie Mae will not finance anyone if they have had a bankruptcy even if you have a cosigner with a credit score of 820. Also the cosigner can not have more than one late payment or you will be denied.

 

Steve

[kygreen229]

Here is another tip. Sallie Mae will not finance anyone if they have had a bankruptcy even if you have a cosigner with a credit score of 820. Also the cosigner can not have more than one late payment or you will be denied.

 

Steve

 

Im hearing now that sallie mae is no longer going to be doing these loans as of feb. 16 of this year...

[klas]

Here is another tip. Sallie Mae will not finance anyone if they have had a bankruptcy even if you have a cosigner with a credit score of 820. Also the cosigner can not have more than one late payment or you will be denied.

 

Steve

 

I thought Sallie Mae got out of the flight school loan business??

[kygreen229]

getting some good help here thanks guys!

[jumpngonuts]

I am currently in the UVU program, I think it is a good way to go. I should be receiving my first $5k in about a week or so. You can get a Pell grant, and apply for (guaranteed approval) Stafford loans. I got a little over $7k for my first semester and after tuition I have the 5 left for training. It will still take a little extra dough from private loans, but now I will only need to borrow about half as much overall, plus the interest on the Staffords is a lot less than the private loans will be. It will take a little more time, but I will also end up with an Aviation B/S degree, and let me tell you, at the age of 35 I really, really wish I would have gotten a degree at your age, heli's or not. If you really want this as a career and are not a millionaire then UVU is a pretty good option. If you want more info feel free to pm me. Best of luck.

 

 

UVU is no longer accepting rotorcraft ratings for their degrees, it's all fixed wing.

[Lindsey]

Im hearing now that sallie mae is no longer going to be doing these loans as of feb. 16 of this year...

 

 

UVU is no longer accepting rotorcraft ratings for their degrees, it's all fixed wing.

 

Well that's depressing.

[kygreen229]

UVU is no longer accepting rotorcraft ratings for their degrees, it's all fixed wing.

 

 

Really? Ive been talking to someone that is currently in it...I don't think we were talking about actual rotorcraft ratings but just a degree in aviation sciences. correct me if im wrong here now im confused again haha!

 

-Kyle

[01CelicaGTS]

I'm currently enrolled in classes at UVU. I already have my PPL and I have about 20 hours left in my commercial, but I didn't have enough money to complete my training, so I tried out UVU. The only problem is that you cannot apply your flight or ground training toward your degree as you could if you were fixed wing. The only option for Rotor Wing is to do the B/S in aviation science business administration. If you get Federal loans, they will take out money for your tuition and then send you the rest. I was able to get about $4800 this sememster after tuition. That's just for Federal loans, not private. I applied for another $10k in private loans. I don't think it's the greatest way to go, but it works if you can't get money through your flight school like me and many others. Right now my flights school doesn't have any lenders for new loans.

 

The best way to go would be to go to a school that does offer a degree that includes flight training and ground training with a CFI as part of your degree. For example Portland Community College here where I live has that program. After this semester I am going to look at transfering there, and see if they can apply my certs to credits.

[brettjeepski]

Kyle,

It is correct that you can't get your rotorcraft ratings honored at UVU and you can only do an aviation science degree...in general aviation. That is the route that I went but I was able to get in before they changed this rule. So they honored my private, commercial and instrument ratings that I received through flight school and then took their online courses. I am working on my CFI and recommend someone that helped me out. Check out my school at MountainRidgeHeli.com, Our student director can walk you through every option with more than you have mentioned that will help you pursue your career like I am doing. PM me if you have any additional questions, would be glad to help.

 

Brett

[kygreen229]

so its looking like everything might be coming together! FAFSA is in and in review should know by tuesday what thats going to do. Starting summer semester which is May 5th I guess. I want to get started actually flying here at silverhawk so I guess its looking into personal loans now. I heard Sallie mae is still doing these loans but they dropped alot of schools...silverhawk is still with them is what im hearing. I think Im going to check with Chase because I already bank with them anyways. Im just a little worried about trying to work do online college and do flight training. You guys think its possible without going crazy and being in to deep? Thanks

 

-Kyle

[fry]

so its looking like everything might be coming together! FAFSA is in and in review should know by tuesday what thats going to do. Starting summer semester which is May 5th I guess. I want to get started actually flying here at silverhawk so I guess its looking into personal loans now. I heard Sallie mae is still doing these loans but they dropped alot of schools...silverhawk is still with them is what im hearing. I think Im going to check with Chase because I already bank with them anyways. Im just a little worried about trying to work do online college and do flight training. You guys think its possible without going crazy and being in to deep? Thanks

 

-Kyle

 

Since you asked, no, I don't think you will be successful at ever earning a paycheck as a pilot. But I do think you may succeed at piling on an uncomfortable...although not crippling...amount of debt. What makes me think this is the portion of your post where you say "...silverhawk is still with them is what im hearing". "I'm hearing"...you don't know?? It's not that difficult to find out for sure...if you really want to know. And you're hearing from whom, the Silverhawk salesperson? That is usually the preferred source when someone wants to be told only what they want to hear. My impression is you are hearing what you want to hear...about everything, the financing, the cost of training, the likelihood of getting a job as a pilot.

 

I'm curious, what is the current storyline from the schools now that the lenders will not lend the full price of a vocational course of training (i.e., through CFII)? Are they saying, "Just go for it...borrow the first $12 or $15 or $20 thousand that the lender will give you and something will come along later to allow you to finish"? What happens when you're $20k in debt and can't borrow any more? And you've got a PPL that's not good for anything? Does the school care...they got $20k out of the deal?

 

Go to school, get an education...forget this "I've-always-wanted-to-be-a-pilot-live-your-dream" crap. I've met too many young ski-bums, dive-bums, fly-bums and aspiring rock stars who believe they can have a life of play and end up broke.

 

Just my opinion...since you asked.

[kygreen229]

Since you asked, no, I don't think you will be successful at ever earning a paycheck as a pilot. But I do think you may succeed at piling on an uncomfortable...although not crippling...amount of debt. What makes me think this is the portion of your post where you say "...silverhawk is still with them is what im hearing". "I'm hearing"...you don't know?? It's not that difficult to find out for sure...if you really want to know. And you're hearing from whom, the Silverhawk salesperson? That is usually the preferred source when someone wants to be told only what they want to hear. My impression is you are hearing what you want to hear...about everything, the financing, the cost of training, the likelihood of getting a job as a pilot.

 

I'm curious, what is the current storyline from the schools now that the lenders will not lend the full price of a vocational course of training (i.e., through CFII)? Are they saying, "Just go for it...borrow the first $12 or $15 or $20 thousand that the lender will give you and something will come along later to allow you to finish"? What happens when you're $20k in debt and can't borrow any more? And you've got a PPL that's not good for anything? Does the school care...they got $20k out of the deal?

 

Go to school, get an education...forget this "I've-always-wanted-to-be-a-pilot-live-your-dream" crap. I've met too many young ski-bums, dive-bums, fly-bums and aspiring rock stars who believe they can have a life of play and end up broke.

 

Just my opinion...since you asked.

 

fry,

 

thanks for the post i appreciate seein that side as well. I guess I used the the term "hearing now" to loosely. I dont know for sure, your right, but I did not hear it from any salesman at silverhawk. A good friend of mine who is almost done with flight instructing out there told me what he has heard..now im not one who is dumb enough to just be like "o cool well lets do it!!" thats why i was hoping to get some opinions on it if people that are in the industry have heard if this is true or not, before I would just jump on the wagon and go for it. I have been researching all of this for for over a year now and heard both sides of the story. I know there isnt a promise of a job and yada yada ya..I have been working jobs since I was 15 years old and trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I graduated high school went to college and stopped because I was blowing money on nothing! I cant just get some degree and get some job if my hearts not in it. a lot of people are able to do that for the money or whatever..thats not for me. So im trying to go this direction and if it doesnt work at least i can say i tried as hard as i could.

 

-Kyle

[yzchopper]

Kyle,

Talk to Catherine Weber the school owner, or talk to the Chief Pilot Lynn Nowotny or Rudy Rossi. One of them should be able to give you better, concrete answer. They helped me with my decision when I trained there from 2003-2005. All talk and flying was straight forward, nothing sugarcoated. I had both Rudy and Lynn as instructors. Hope this helps.

 

Steve K.

[kygreen229]

Kyle,

Talk to Catherine Weber the school owner, or talk to the Chief Pilot Lynn Nowotny or Rudy Rossi. One of them should be able to give you better, concrete answer. They helped me with my decision when I trained there from 2003-2005. All talk and flying was straight forward, nothing sugarcoated. I had both Rudy and Lynn as instructors. Hope this helps.

 

Steve K.

 

o ya ive talked to Catherine before and personally have a friend that almost has a 1000 hours out there as a CFI. I was just out there this last sat. just to check it out again and talk to some people. They are def. slower than when the economy was rockin but they still seem to be doing good. I just cant imagine what it would be like to be 50 and be like huh....well i wish i would have persued my dream. I say that because this is exactly what my dad did and regrets it everyday.

 

You went to silverhawk? Did you have a job as a CFI when you got your ratings?

[fry]

I just cant imagine what it would be like to be 50 and be like huh....well i wish i would have persued my dream. I say that because this is exactly what my dad did and regrets it everyday.

 

It all depends on your point of view...twenty-something looking forward or fifty-something looking back. I'm certain you also can't imagine what it would be like to be 50-plus and not knowing if you will be able to keep working...for whatever reason...and to also not have the resources to stop working. But someday you will. That doesn't mean you should plan your life so conservatively that all you think about is your retirement. But...it also means you should not take long-shot chances when you are young just because you think you have plenty of time.

 

You would be amazed at how much liberty...freedom of action...you lose because you have to make payments to a bank every month. But that is what young people do all the time...trade their freedom in order to buy something they don't really need.

 

If you want to experience the "dream of flight" do it in a Cessna. Everything you want from flying...at least initally...can be gotten inexpensively by learning to fly and then renting a Cessna from a Part 61 flying club. If after you finish college, have been flying a Cessna all over the county and have an IFR rating you still want a job flying helicopters you'll know how to get that training a whole lot cheaper than you do now.

[yzchopper]

You went to silverhawk? Did you have a job as a CFI when you got your ratings?

 

Yes I went to Silverhawk. No. I did not have a job as a CFI. There was no openings at that time. So I did some aerial photo work, some ground instruction and then got hired on with Croman flying SIC in the SH-3H, and S-61 firefighting and logging. I was laid off from Croman in late Nov 2006. I did not start any flight instruction until I started my flight school in Feb 2007. Unfortunately I shut the school down in Aug 2008 due to the economy and my Dad's health. I did not have very many students and it was really slow. After my Dad's passing June 20th 2009 during cherry harvest things really slowed down for me and then after my Grandmother's passing in Aug, my Dad's sibilings decided to sell the farm and I was laid off Nov 15th. So here I sit unemployed. I may have a job doing ag spraying though. The operator is just waiting on the paperwork from the FAA.

[kygreen229]

You went to silverhawk? Did you have a job as a CFI when you got your ratings?

 

 

Yes I went to Silverhawk. No. I did not have a job as a CFI. There was no openings at that time. So I did some aerial photo work, some ground instruction and then got hired on with Croman flying SIC in the SH-3H, and S-61 firefighting and logging. I was laid off from Croman in late Nov 2006. I did not start any flight instruction until I started my flight school in Feb 2007. Unfortunately I shut the school down in Aug 2008 due to the economy and my Dad's health. I did not have very many students and it was really slow. After my Dad's passing June 20th 2009 during cherry harvest things really slowed down for me and then after my Grandmother's passing in Aug, my Dad's sibilings decided to sell the farm and I was laid off Nov 15th. So here I sit unemployed. I may have a job doing ag spraying though. The operator is just waiting on the paperwork from the FAA.

 

Im sorry to hear that about your dad and grandma, everything always happens right at once it seems. Well im going to go talk to my bank this evening about an education loan for this. will see what happens. not quite sure what funds im going to be able to get from fafsa yet. should know today but im not seeing it on UVU. maybe tomorrow.

[yzchopper]

Thanks. Good luck

[kygreen229]

THANKS! ill need it ha. i really do understand the situation of making payments and being young. I have made some poor desicions on purchasing vehicles and a motorcylce at different times and basically all i did was work to pay for it. luckily i made money on the vehicle when i sold it so it worked out in my favor credit wise, and the motorcyle..well im still feeling the effects but learned alot from the experience of buying something i dont need. also luckily i have never been late on a payment or missed one so all in all its helped my credit but it has been a long road figuring out what i really want to spend money on. HELICOPTERS BABY!! i know its not going to be a easy road but i feel im ready to tackle it. if i could see into the future maybe this (finacially) will be the worst ever...or maybe it could be the most rewarding personally for me. well see what happens i guess.

 

-Kyle

[yzchopper]

I should mak a correction from my earlier post. I did not shut my flight school down. I just stopped the flying portion. I still give ground lessons when student need it or ask. I understand the payment thing all to well. I've been there done that. Live and learn. Good luck

[Sparker]

You would be amazed at how much liberty...freedom of action...you lose because you have to make payments to a bank every month. But that is what young people do all the time...trade their freedom in order to buy something they don't really need.

 

You should do seminars man. I think there really is demand in this country for this type of education.