Aviation Universities

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xECKSx58

Well-Known Member
I'm looking to attend an aviation university in the US starting this fall.
I'm going to graduate with my AS in May from a local community college.
I'm just wondering what the best aviation university for me to go to would be.

ERAU is a waste of money I think. $40k for tuition/room & board + $15k for flight/year.
So I'd be looking at $65k+ per year

UND is $17k for tuition and another $7k for room & board. Then the total flight program costs about $65k.

Ohio University's total flight program costs just under $60k with $18k tuition (idk what room & board is).

ASU's total flight program costs just over $65k with $21k tuition (idk what room & board is)

DSU's tution is $15k and flight costs are $50k ($58k with multi-engine instructor)


Those are the only aviation universities that I'm aware of.

Ohio University and ASU are both rated very well on college prowler, with DSU being rated the worst of this lot.


I want to be a corporate pilot, not an airliner.
Any input on what would be best for me?
 
There's a massive number of university programs out there. I would guess over 100... my advice is get a degree in something other than aviation like business, biology, accounting, whatever and fly on the side at a Part 61 school... before you graduate you'll have your flight instuctor certificate and a good bead on the industry and exactly where you want it to take you. Having a good degree and being a highly skilled pilot is paramount, but equally as paramount is having a good back-up plan. You would think being a rock star good pilot would be enough but half of making it in this industry is pure luck, right place at the right time.

Good Luck with your decision!

Disclaimer: I attended a certain 4 yr aviation university.
 
If you do go to an "aviation university", go to one that's not just aviation, but has a multitude of degree programs. That's where the girls are. And you don't want all of your friends to be pilots, either. Too many tools in one shed.
 
If your goal is to be a professional pilot, do not waste your time getting a degree in aviation. Get it in something useful and get your ratings. Don't go to an "aviation university," go to a university with an aviation program if it really matters that much to you. I recommend a good university and get your ratings seperately.
 
I agree in staying away from an aviation degree. But how many of us at 18 could really purse an accounting degree when we really just wanted to fly? I think the younger you are the more focused you are on the passion of an aviation degree (pretty ads, websites they have, promises made, ect) and less focused on the common sense decision to major in something perhaps more practical in the overall scheme of things. Ideally, at 18, one would have a passion in another area of interest that could be a college major, be practical, and still fly on that side with the goal of being a professional pilot. I know at 18 I had no other interests.
 
I graduated from LA Tech with a degree in professional aviation, good school, boring city. I transferred there from ERAU, still don't know what I was thinking going there.
 
I didn't really make it that clear in the OP, but I didn't mean to refer to those schools as "aviation universities," I was just talking about universities that offered aviation.
I think all of the colleges I listed are "standard universities" that happen to offer aviation courses.
And I'm not sure if it's possible, but I wasn't necessarily looking to get a degree in Aviation, I was planning on going to the university for a business degree (definitely not law or medicine) and take flight lessons at the same time.
If I just go to a local FBO and a regular university, I would still have the "requirements" (used loosely) to be successful as a prof. pilot?
My dad was a CFI for something like 7 years before he started doing charters (he fly's a 7X, and soon a G650 now but the beginning sounded rough). That's what I'm trying to avoid.
 
I too attended and received an aviation degree as a stubborn young adult and can re-enforce the emphasis on attaining a degree outside the aviation field. It ticks the box of having a degree but really does nothing much else apart from that.

I went against many recommendations (on the internet and personal) and regret the decision to not undertake an engineering or finance degree looking back; Don't make the same mistake as I did. Do as others suggest and undertake your flying on the side during college and just tough it out in something else.

EDIT: Just read your latest post. Good luck anyway!
 
4 years @ western michigan cost me 40k. That was about 3-4 years ago and i worked a minimum of two jobs. Hopefully this helps you.
 
Those reviews of ASU on collegeprowler are for the Tempe campus. We probably have one of the hottest student bodies in the nation and have insane parties. :D

Unfortunately, the flight program is at our Polytechnic campus 23 miles away. From what I heard, women at that campus is scarce :cry:

I heeded people's advice and decided on skipping the flight program and went to the Tempe campus for my Geography major. Best decision ever, if u catch my drift ;) I do my flying at a local fbo. A flight instructor I've spoken to is an ASU flight program alumni and said that if he were to do it again, he would've flown locally instead of thru the university. We recently changed flight training providers and started working with ATP at KIWA.
 
I don't know about those other universities but UND has a very lax residency policy. If you maintain a residence in ND for one year (keep your apartment or dorm over the summer) you can apply for in-state tuition and then it goes down to about $8000 a year.

xECKSx58 said:
I want to be a corporate pilot, not an airliner.
Any input on what would be best for me?
Click to expand...

Ah, in that case UND may not be right, they have a huge airline fetish here :rolleyes:

EDIT: If you listen to these people and get a degree in something other than aviation, at least make it engineering. A psych degree is pretty worthless nomatter what you want to do. At least with an aviation degree you learn a lot about aviation.
 
As much as I love planes, at 18, I had my eyes set on other interests, if ya know what I mean. College helped me fulfill those interests, and I also learned some things on the side.
 
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