How to Pay for Flight Training

How to pay for flight training is one of the most common questions I get asked at Part Time Pilot. Flight Training is not cheap. In this article I will go over some financial plans and how much I think you need to estimate for to get your Private Pilot License. 

Saving for Flight Training

The recommended strategy for financing your flight training is to save a certain amount before you start flying. You can save enough for a certain amount of flights, and start flying using this money while also saving for the next set of flights. Or, you can save all the money you will think you need at once. For an estimate of what you will need to complete all your training, use the $17,000 estimate we came up with here.

If you know you want to take flight training and are patient enough to save $17,000, you will set yourself up for the most efficient and cost effect flight training finance plan. This is because if you have the money already, you will never have to delay or interrupt your training due to money. This eliminates the factor of money from the equation and you can now fly whenever you have the time and whenever the weather is sufficient. The more factors you can eliminate from affecting your flight training, the less it will cost in the end. Alternatively, you can save half ($8500) or a third ($5667) and start your training while continuing to save each month for the rest of what you will need. But this takes discipline and consistency in your ability to save. If any unforeseen costs come up (they often do) this may become difficult and you may cause interruptions to your training.

Interruptions = $$

Financial Plans for Flight Training

See the tables below for estimated costs for flight training using the different financial planning methods I have outlined. Depending on how long you want your flight training to take, how much free time you are able to dedicate per week, and how much money you can afford to give to it, the number of hours and money you spend per month will be more or less. The tables below include estimates for a 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12-month plan.

The tables assume the same values used in our example quote in the previous section that estimated you will need 65 total flight hours of which 30 are dual hours with your instructor, plus another 15 additional hours of instructor pre and post-flight ground instruction to complete your training. This is based on national averages for students that are not flying full-time due to other responsibilities. There are no requirements to ground training… Which is where you can really save money with an online ground school. In the next section, I will discuss my tips for attempting to accomplish your Private Pilot training with the least amount of flight and ground hours as possible as well as other tips on how to save money.

Based on the estimate determined in this article here of a total cost of just over $17,000 (could be only $14,000 when you utilize Part Time Pilot trainings) and the average of 70 total flight hours (national average) to receive a Private Pilot License, the below tables below show the money required on a monthly basis and at the start of your flight training to accomplish a 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 or 14-month flight training schedule using 1 of 4 financial plans:

• Paycheck to paycheck
• You have no money in savings for flight training and you will need to come up with the funds each paycheck.
• The quicker you want flight training done the more money you will need each paycheck
• All saved prior to start
• You are able to save all the $17,000 (estimated) needed for flight training and can draw from this lump sum to pay for lessons
• ½ saved prior to start
• You are able to save up 1/2 of the $17,000 (estimated) needed for flight training prior to starting and can draw from this lump sum to pay for early lessons while you save more money
• 1/3 saved prior to start)
• You are able to save up 1/3 of $17,000 (estimated) needed for flight training prior to starting and can draw from this lump sum to pay for early lessons while you save more money

 So what plan works for you? This depends on the money you will have available and the time you will have available. If money and time is no issue then take a look at the plans in the 4 month table. If you do not have much saved up and are limited in the amount you can save each month like a lot of people then you will want to choose a longer plan (10, 12 or 14 months). The longer plans assume that you are flying less on a weekly basis and therefore require less funds each week/month.

Part Time Pilot recommends to students in this situation and many others to start with ground school first. While studying the ground school you can save as much as possible to give yourself a good starting point. Try and save 1/2 the $17,000 or even 1/3 of it to utilize one of those plans in the above tables. This will allow you to get started with flight lessons right after ground school and lowers the burden you will need for the rest of your training.

In fact, the Part Time Pilot Online Ground School was designed for students in this exact situation. Students are able to navigate through our course at their own pace and learn absolutely EVERYTHING they will need to know to begin flight lessons. They will have time to save for flight training while also preparing their minds to make the flight lessons easier.

Finally, just remember that interruptions in your training will cause you to have to redo lessons and will add to that estimated $17,000. This is especially true for the 10, 12 or 14 month plans above that only plan on you flying once or twice a week. In these plans your proficiency and skill can vanish with just one or two missed weeks. Therefore, it is imperative that you fly consistently, even if it is once a week.

Scholarships for Flight Training

There are a lot of scholarships out there for student pilots. A lot are for younger people or people who are in a full time degree program but there are still many for anyone who is flight training. For example, you can look no further than Part Time Pilot! We are the only Online Ground School that does a stand alone (not in partnership with other organizations) scholarship. And we do 4 of them every year! We do a $1000 scholarship and free ground school in the Summer, Fall and Winter and then we start off a crowd funded scholarship with a $1000 donation and see how large we can get it each year. In our first year doing this in 2022 we raised almost $5000 and we plan to make it bigger and better each year.

I do not want to hear anyone reading this say "oh I wont win"... With that attitude you wont! Please do yourself a favor and apply. And when you do apply, avoid short and unemotional answers. In the Part Time Pilot scholarship I review applications all the time and the first thing I do is remove all the applications that have answers a sentence or less in length. This turns out to be 90% of them. It's crazy that people think those answers lacking detail and emotion will win them a scholarship. So, if you can just come up with answers that are longer than a sentence and have some passion in them, you are putting yourself in the top 10% of applicants already.

We will be providing you a list shortly of scholarship opportunities but we also have a Facebook group called "Ways to Pay for Flight Training" where we post upcoming scholarship deadlines.

Loans for Flight Training

There are a lot of different loans you can get for flight training. As of writing this article in the fall of 2023 the interest rate is as high as it has been in many years. I do not give financial advice and that is for you and your family to decide but just do me a favor and before you take out too big of a loan, look at the big picture. Use loan calculators to know what your payments are going to be. Can you afford them? How much interest will you end up paying. You hear plenty of horror stories about student loans never being paid off because the interest payments are higher than what the student can afford to pay off on a monthly basis. So when they take out a loan for $100,000, after many years of paying a monthly payment they may even owe more. So please do your homework and talk to a professional who has no skin in the game. Don't take advice from the people trying to give you the loan... they want your money.

Federal Student Loans for Flight Training

There are four types of federal loans for flight training. Let's break them down:

• Federal Direct Subsidized Loans
• Offers the lowest fees and interest rates among federal student pilot loans
• Does not require a credit check
• Requires proof of financial need
• If you are a parent you cannot apply for this loan
• Has limits to how much you can borrow based off your financial needs and your flight school
• Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans
• Includes loan fees but offers a low interest rate
• Does not require a credit check
• Requires proof of financial need
• Has limits to how much you can borrow based off your financial needs and your flight school
• Federal Direct PLUS Loans
• Offers low interest rates (usually lower than private loan rates)
• Requires a credit check
• For students who are completing flight training within an accredited college or university program
• Is available to graduate students
• Is available to parents of undergraduates
• Fewer but flexible repayment options
• Can be combined with Federal Direct Subsidized or Unsubsidized loans
• Federal Direct Consolidation Loans
• Allows students to combine Federal Direct Subsidized, Unsubsidized and PLUS loans all into one loan with a single fixed interest rate
• Doesn't necessarily mean you will pay a lower interest rate (usually slightly higher over time)
• Opens up all forgiveness and repayment options and simplifies your payments
• No do-overs or grace periods

You can learn more and apply at the federal student loan website here.

Private Loans for Flight Training

You can also go the non-government private route for student pilot loans. Here are some commonly used private companies that will do this for you:

• Wells Fargo Flight School Loan
• Interest rates usually higher than federal loans
• Must have a cosigner
• Must have great credit
• No application fee
• Offers both fixed and variable interest rates
• Limits to how much you can borrow
• Sallie Mae Flight School Loan
• For students attending schools that offer trade certificates or professional training which (flight schools)
• Must have a cosigner
• Must have great credit
• Can borrow entire cost of flight training in terms of 10 or 15 years
• Meritize Flight School Loan
• For students attending schools that offer trade certificates or professional training which (flight schools)
• Must have a cosigner
• Must have great credit
• Offers both fixed and variable interest rates
• Can borrow entire cost of flight training
• Your Local Credit Union Loans
• May be your best private loan option for interest rates
• If you are a longstanding member with good credit you could get added benefits
• Depends on the credit union
• Could have limitations to how much you can borrow

Airline Training Tuition Reimbursements or Bonuses

Not technically a loan but similar. Some Airlines will select certain students to help out with flight training costs. Those students would then work for that airline once they have the certificates and experience and then they would pay back the airline in the first few years of employment. Some airlines offer employment Bonuses that are meant to help pay off any federal or private loans once you are hired.

These are great options for those that know they want to be an airline pilot. However, the opportunities are obviously limited. Still, it is worth giving it a shot! Here are some airline programs we have found:

• SkyWest Airlines
• Offers up to $17,500 reimbursement towards flight school costs for eligible students
• ExpressJet Airlines
• Offers up to $11,000 reimbursement towards flight school costs for eligible students
• Horizon Air
• Offers up to $12,500 reimbursement towards flight school costs for eligible students
• Offers $5000 Bonus
• Air Wisconsin
• Offers $73,000 Bonus
• Commute Air
• Offers up to $20,000 reimbursement towards flight school costs for eligible students
• Offers $5000 Bonus
• Endeavor Air
• Offers $120,000 Bonus
• Envoy
• Offers $15,000 Bonus
• GoJet Airlines
• Offers $18,000 Bonus
• Piedmont
• Offers $30,000
• PSA Airlines
• Offers up to $15,000 reimbursement towards flight school costs for eligible students
• Offers $15,000 Bonus

Furthermore, some airlines offer other unique programs that can aid in some of the costs. For example United Airlines has their Aviate Academy that will waive eligible student's cost of their Private Pilot License (up to $17,750).