thor2mx Posted July 16, 2012 Report Share Posted July 16, 2012 Hi everybody. I am in the process of wanting starting flight school. But I have no idea on a good loan program. Was wondering if anyone could give me some insight on a good loan program. Are there any Federal loan programs out there? Any information would be gratefully appreciated. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UpperLimitAviation Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Check with Salli Mae, our understanding is that they are financing flight training again. Check with the school you want to attend, they may have setup more financing options with their local banks. Good luck with your search. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightsta1ker Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Check with Salli Mae, our understanding is that they are financing flight training again. Check with the school you want to attend, they may have setup more financing options with their local banks. Good luck with your search. To my knowledge Sallie Mae is very restrictive on which schools they finance now. There are only a handful left in the country that are eligible. I used Pilot Finance for my Commercial/CFI training. It was comparable to the Sallie Mae loan I used for my Private, but it's still like financing a new car.... If you can't afford to buy a new car, and make payments on it, you probably can't afford flight training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle5 Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 If you're Hell bent on borrowing money for flight training (most here will say don't) at least pick a school that has a college program (like Universal Helicopters). This way if your flying career doesn't work out, or takes a lot longer than you thought, you'll have a college degree for a back-up career! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightsta1ker Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 If you're Hell bent on borrowing money for flight training (most here will say don't) at least pick a school that has a college program (like Universal Helicopters). This way if your flying career doesn't work out, or takes a lot longer than you thought, you'll have a college degree for a back-up career! Then again, you are paying for both a college education as well as flight training... No such thing as a free ride. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brettjeepski Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 I would highly recommend not borrowing. Stay out of debt if you can. paying it back is rough. if you do borrow make a detailed plan. watch interest rates. STAY AWAY from sallie Mae. my interest rate was super high and it almost killed me. I would run away from schools who recommend sallie Save up as much as you can and when your in flight school don't buy dumb stuff like hand guns and bikes until your making good money and all your debt is gone. Unless we are at war, then you can buy the hand gun... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpenter Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 Please take head and NOT GO INTO DEBT to complete flight training. How would you feel if you had up to $75,000.00 of accrued debt and couldn't afford to pay it back? In the worst case scenario, you never work as a commercial pilot and move on to something else to pay the bills. How would that make you feel? You can't discharfe student loan debt in chapter 7 bankruptcy. THINK about this long and hard. Now, if you must give it a go, then find ways to borrow $'s that can be discharged or pay as you go (if you can afford it) or just don't go to flight school. There are only a few here that will try to be honest with you so you can see the downside, and then and only then can you make an EDUCATED decision. Having said all that, should you choose to train for a career, good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightsta1ker Posted July 17, 2012 Report Share Posted July 17, 2012 My solution was to take a 6 year break from flying to pay off the loan. Getting a job that paid well so I could finance the rest of my flight training also helped. Having a loan can help you get your training paid up front. Just make sure that you calculate your monthly payments on the loan and can afford to make the payments with a good margin of error. DON'T assume that you will get a job after training that will enable you to pay that loan off. You might not be able to get a job at all, let alone one that pays well. I personally don't think there is anything wrong with taking out a loan. Just make sure it is the right option for you before you dive head first into it. It might be better for you to just sock it away for a few years before you start your training. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BH206L3 Posted July 18, 2012 Report Share Posted July 18, 2012 Well you are not going to listen to any kind of common sense, so borrow away. In five years if not sooner, you will be posing here how screwed you are and looking for suggestions to get out of the debt hole you are going to dig for yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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