sschlesinger

Hello Im not sure if this subject has been touched upon yet so im writting to you all about your thoughts and feelings. I just registered at the local community college to take their professional flight course (all the way up to cfi ratings) these courses start in the summer. Since it is a degree program that they have, I went to fafsa and filled out the sheet to get a grant, now since i'm married with children our efc was darn low. So I was able to get the pell grant which will disperse 4000 per year in two payments. Also the college said I also qualified for the fseog grant as well which will disperse up to 4000 per year as well depending on needs and first come first serve. Now I figure the the total course is about 38000 and its a two year degree. If possible i'm hoping for atleast 8000 in combined grants per year which will total 16000 for two years of grants and then I get a loan for the additional 22000. But here is my question lets say in two years i still dont have my AS degree what happens next do I have to pay back all the grant money also what if because I do have a family i only get my private with ifr and then quit. Private with ifr is only about 11000. Do you all see where i'm going with this? Btw i'm not happy with having a low efc score its not good at all. However in this case it actually might be good to have a low efc atleast for my situation.



BTW in case you all didnt know what efc is-The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) formula is basically the same for all applicants, but there is some flexibility. Your financial aid administrator might adjust the cost of attendance or the information used to calculate your EFC to take into account special circumstances you might have. These circumstances could include your family's unusual medical expenses, tuition expenses, or unemployment.

aviator09

I dont know if this will help much. But, I went to CC for two years and earned a private first year and instrument the second. The thing about the loan situation at the school was they would only award you so much for each semester. I think it was just enough to cover the semesters fees and maybe some extra for books. For the flight training aspect they would have a few banks set up that would work with flight students. My friend payed for all his flight training by these alternitve loans and he has to start paying them back 6 months after he isnt a full time student anymore. I would ask the school if they have any specific loans for aviation students, since they usually take out much bigger loans than your average student. If you plan on going from private - cfi in two years it will be very, very difficult ... especially if the school is training under part 61. But, if you do takeout the loans and cant pay them back after 6 months of not being a full time student, you can defer them for a while. Except, the juice is still running on the loan and it will just take that much more money and that much longer to pay off.

hope it helpd a little bit .. thats all i got

sschlesinger

So can I use any of the grant for flight time or does it all have to go towards the credit portion. Cause i'm instate the course i want to take now which is private ground school=5 credits, private pilot preperation=6 credits, so eleven credits this semester (summer) only equals 715.00 at 65.00 per credit. So what happens with the rest of the grant monies.

sschlesinger

Hey aviator09 I just spoke to financial aid at the school and she said of the 7000 in grants (2 grants) that 715.00 will go towards 11 credits and the rest could go towards my flight time how ever she couldn't quite yet on the dispersal amounts since they are not dispersed all at the same time, meaning that I do not get the entire 7000 at once. So hopefully i might go with your plan first year private second year ifr, i really don't want to take loans out unless i really have to. And if I have to take out a loan i don't want to pay on it until i'm finished with school.

ryane946

Are you eventually going to transfer to a 4 year college. A 2 year degree is worth about the same as a high school diploma in the airline industry. I highly recommend a 4 year degree. Just getting a 2 year degree will trap you at the regionals, and that is not where you want to spend the rest of your career!!!
Let me know if you want some more insight into this recommendation.

sschlesinger

Now I know this is gonna sound crazy but no i have no plans of transferring to a 4 year college. My real plans are to get my cfi so I can teach (career cfi). If I was to transfer to a 4 year college I would most likely get a teaching degree anyway. My second career choice is to be a school teacher. I can say i truly enjoy teaching other people, when I worked for Aol and geico i was a head trainer and after having those two jobs really made me want to be a school teacher. Also the really good cfi's demand about 75 to 100 per hour, I can't say whether I would be a good one or not but its not about money when i comes to teaching these days.

On a side note im in my early 30's and have a family going to a four year college would be very difficult for me.

iflyprops

I wouldn't count on 75 to 100 per hour. I know several excellent instructors, two of whom are designated flight examiners and they only charge about 50/hr. The guy that I did my CFI and am working on my CFII with is a retired navy pilot and one of the best instructors I have been around, he only charges 28/hr, granted that is through a club. Just trying to say, don't have unrealistic expectations on the money you are going to make instructing. You know how to make a million dollars in aviation, right? ......start with two.

That said, good for you, there need to be more career CFI's out there, keep pluggin'.

sschlesinger

Hello iflyprops i dont plan charging that much but it was just a statement that good career cfis can make good money. If i became a cfi i would try to use a sliding scale based on income which would determine cost of lessons not including students cost of renting the airplane (rentals will always be at a fixed rate). One thing about my current situation as well as others in my position is coming up with the cash to start flight lessons. However I just got in a lucky position to have grants to help pay. I truly feel in my heart no one should ever be denied an education in which the student has the heart for whether it be an airline pilot or doctor or anything else that they love to do. To further my point there are ton and tons of talented people out there that could be doctors or lawyers but they just couldn't afford the education, so now their stuck doing something that really don't enjoy doing.

iflyprops

I wholeheartedly, 100% agree with you where education is concerned. I was just pointing out what a realistic figure as far as wage was concerned. Thats all.

Good Luck!

aviator09

If I remember correctly , and it might be different where you are. But, I think they offered say $5500 per year so , half first semester and half second semester and this is going through the school ( not some bank ). What you take out is up to you. Say, you only have to pay $500 for credits , then you could put the $5000 towards flight training costs. The dispersal dates sometimes can take awhile, it may not be the beginning of the semester. It could be a month or so in. So, it might be hard to do it with just the schools money. Because, it will cost you more in the long run .. if you only get $2750, for semster 1 , that will only get you so far in your flight training and then if you have to wait another 4 months untill you can begin flying again. It will be harder for a new student to pick up where they left off , rather than a cfi taking 4 months off. So, you will prob end up spending more money on review flights in the end.