Scholarships and Loans

[eaw913]

I'm ready to begin my training, but I have almost no chance unless I can find scholarships and get loans to assist me. Just wondering if anyone knows of any good scholarships for helicopter training?

 

Any support/tips are appreciated.

[macatstarr]

I'm assuming your a high school graduate. but I would try Army ROTC at UND (university of north dakota, Grand Forks) Not sure if its changed, but 10 yrs ago, they offer pretty much a full ride + they have several Schweizer use to train in. Get ur commerical & ur a shoe-in to Branch Aviation. That is if you would consider the Military.

 

After getting off active duty in 99, they offered me a full ride over the phone, not sure if i'd had to pay for my flight training, but a BS degree plus a stipend each month. Being from the south, I couldn't bring myself to go for it...

 

Not taking it was one of several mistakes i've made in life. Hind sight is always 20/20...

[kodoz]

I'm ready to begin my training, but I have almost no chance unless I can find scholarships and get loans to assist me. Just wondering if anyone knows of any good scholarships for helicopter training?

 

Any support/tips are appreciated.

 

Loan money is tight nowadays and scholarships haven't been a reliable way to make it through flight school. Focus on an education or sweeping hangars to save money and make connections, then get in in a couple of years. Or, if you want to be a soldier or a cop, look into those routes.

 

Sorry man.

[Lindsey]

Loan money is tight nowadays and scholarships haven't been a reliable way to make it through flight school. Focus on an education or sweeping hangars to save money and make connections, then get in in a couple of years. Or, if you want to be a soldier or a cop, look into those routes.

 

Sorry man.

 

Become a soldier!

[r22butters]

If there was one thing I could do over again regarding my training, it would have to be to, NOT BORROW MONEY!

 

Jobs are so hard to find, and pay is so low, for such a long time, that it is next to impossible to make loan payments and have enough to live on, even if you live in your car. If you really want to become a career pilot, join the military.

[Vortex Man]

College of the Sequoias is now offering financing using the Parents Plus Loan if you ware under 25 and your parents want to help you out. Requirments for the loan extend to no bankruptcy, foreclosure, tax liens or repossessions. Even being late on your mortgage or medical bills up to 6 months is okay as long as it is between 2007 ad 2009. Contact COS Aviation for the Details. Full press release will be posted shortly about the program. In addition to that they also offer the Chase Select Education Loan to fund your training.

[ADRidge]

If there was one thing I could do over again regarding my training, it would have to be to, NOT BORROW MONEY!

 

Jobs are so hard to find, and pay is so low, for such a long time, that it is next to impossible to make loan payments and have enough to live on, even if you live in your car. If you really want to become a career pilot, join the military.

 

This.

 

Borrowing money to engage in what in my experience has a 5% success rate is just foolish. Out of the ten people in my Private Pilot ground class, 4 have achieved at least a Commercial/Instrument ticket. One is working. Out of the class before it, one more is working.

 

Caveat Emptor.

[kygreen229]

Im not going to lie...it just seems this day and age paying to become a career heli pilot is just not possible it seems almost. Everything seems to be a shot in the dark and luck at the time of completion if you will be able to move forward and make enough money just to pay your loans and live no matter how much planning.

Unless you have 70k sitting around or join the military it seems impossible and depressing haha. Im sitting here right now waiting on FAFSA results through UVU to start training in May and everytime I get on this forum I go back and forth whether to start or not. I here positives like "Give it all you've got and go for it" to "Dont do it."

Why do I love helicopters and flying?????????? Life would be easier it seems if I didn't ha.

[fry]

College of the Sequoias is now offering financing using the Parents Plus Loan if you ware under 25 and your parents want to help you out. Requirments for the loan extend to no bankruptcy, foreclosure, tax liens or repossessions. Even being late on your mortgage or medical bills up to 6 months is okay as long as it is between 2007 ad 2009. Contact COS Aviation for the Details. Full press release will be posted shortly about the program. In addition to that they also offer the Chase Select Education Loan to fund your training.

 

I cannot image why parents would risk their retirement savings...or why their grown children would ask them to...by co-signing an expensive loan for such dubious adventure as occupational flight training. The Parents Plus Loan has a 3% origination charge, a 1% "default fee" and an 8.5% interest rate over 10 years...plus interest has to be paid during training.

 

http://www.chasestudentloans.com/pdfs/privfacts.pdf

 

That means if the schooling cost $60k they would be financing $62.4k, with the upfront fees, and the payments for ten years would be about $1,000 a month...NOT including the interest paid during training. The total cost (the principal and interest) for just the minimum requirements to beome an unemployed CFI would be about $120k.

 

And the Chase Select Education Loan would be even worse because it is a private loan...the rate, fees and terms would be even higher.

 

Beware of schools' "Financial Aid Officers" bearing gifts.

[Shaun]

You could just pursue a career in something else, buy a gyrocopter, and fly as much as you want.

 

Aviation is unimaginably frustrating even when it works out, let alone when it doesn't.

[r22butters]

kygreen229 Posted Today, 01:44

Im not going to lie...it just seems this day and age paying to become a career heli pilot is just not possible it seems almost. Everything seems to be a shot in the dark and luck at the time of completion if you will be able to move forward and make enough money just to pay your loans and live no matter how much planning.

Unless you have 70k sitting around or join the military it seems impossible and depressing haha. Im sitting here right now waiting on FAFSA results through UVU to start training in May and everytime I get on this forum I go back and forth whether to start or not. I here positives like "Give it all you've got and go for it" to "Dont do it."

Why do I love helicopters and flying?????????? Life would be easier it seems if I didn't ha.

 

If you really love to fly, you can still make it a career,... one day. Just get a "real job" first, and make flying a second career that you can switch into later in life.

 

Don't borrow money, you will definitly regret it later, especially when your credit is destroyed after you realize you cannot make the payments anymore!

[kygreen229]

what is your typical payment with about a $65,000 loans after your done and you start paying them back? Granted half or so would be federal loans through UVU in my case...but whats an average payment like per month?

[fry]

what is your typical payment with about a $65,000 loans after your done and you start paying them back? Granted half or so would be federal loans through UVU in my case...but whats an average payment like per month?

 

If you don't know how to arrive at an answer to that question do you really think you should be borrowing that much money?

[Spirit of '69]

This.

 

Borrowing money to engage in what in my experience has a 5% success rate is just foolish. Out of the ten people in my Private Pilot ground class, 4 have achieved at least a Commercial/Instrument ticket. One is working. Out of the class before it, one more is working.

 

Caveat Emptor.

 

i don't doubt this for a second. but i was wondering if others could give their experiences or know of any data that clearly shows the odds of success. also how much of the difficulty comes from the current recession compared to before things got way out of whack in the economy. i'm on the three year plan to get my cfii, (saving up this year) and hope things will be looking better in a few years for prospective pilots.

[kygreen229]

If you don't know how to arrive at an answer to that question do you really think you should be borrowing that much money?

 

I know what it would be if you just had strictly a sallie mae loan or something like that but its always different depending on where you get funding. If half is federal financing through college and the other half ends up being a private party loan then your payment will change. I was trying to see what ppl were typically paying a month since it varries. Thanks Fry. Im still not sure why you didnt answer the question in the other topic about if you were flying, or were in school or why you are completely negative in every response you give...Im sorry if im being blunt but its getting frustrating. Its almost as if you are pushing everyone away! Anyways end of rant.

 

-Kyle

[fry]

I know what it would be if you just had strictly a sallie mae loan or something like that but its always different depending on where you get funding. If half is federal financing through college and the other half ends up being a private party loan then your payment will change.

 

Great ghost of Silverstate...it's a simple math problem. Here, use this chart:

 

http://www.chasestudentloans.com/pdfs/privfacts.pdf

 

If $30k is a subsidized Stafford loan at 5.6% and $37k is a PLUS loan your total payments will be about $870 a month for ten years. But if your Stafford loan is unsubsidized at 6.8% the monthly payments will be about $1,016. But, if the second loan is a private loan the rate, and payment, will be even higher (assuming you can even get a private loan once you are $30k in debt on a federal student loan). The point is, it depends on the type of loan and the terms. How do you expect anyone here to tell you what your payments will be? Read the loan docs...hopefully long before you sign them.