Day to day expenses at Flightsafety

DeuceOfAces

DeuceOfAces

Well-Known Member
Hey!

This question is for the guys who took out loans (that's probably everyone) to pay for their flight training.

Did you borrow some more money than you expected to need for flight training to cover miscellaneous expenses (food, gas, rent, money for movies, etc.)? Or did you arrive at FSA with some saved money in your bank account?
I know that if I go to FSA, I won't start getting paid until I'm a CFI so in the 4 or 5 months that I'm training, I'm wondering how I should I pay for day to day expenses. Do students have to get a part time job at McDonalds or something, LOL?!
 
bLizZuE said:
4-5 months? are you arriving with a CPL?
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Nah. My plans are sorta fluid because the economy is all over the place. But, I'm considering getting down there with a PPL Multi and Instrument. So if I'm reading you correctly, blizzue, that would mean it would take more than 4-5 months if I did arrived with the PPL and Instrument? I wouldn't be in a rush or anything to complete my licenses, but it seems like a long time just for a commercial and CFI.
 
That changes things quite a bit.

Depending on you choosing part 61 or part 141 you can expect 4-6 months for your training. Depends on how much flight time you currently posses and which commercial rating you want to get first.

I would say our CFI program is a little different than most, and you can expect CFI alone to take 2 months.
 
bLizZuE said:
I would say our CFI program is a little different than most, and you can expect CFI alone to take 2 months.
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:yeahthat:and that is if you are a real go getter. It took me about 3 months to do mine including ground school. The school was also pretty busy at the time.

As far as day to day expenses go I would set up a strict budget. Save now for the expenses. Don't take out extra loan money for it. It will just cost you more in the long run. Save at least twice the amount you think you will need, just to be safe. I would say plan on $1000/month. This is assuming you will live in the dorms and the dorms are part of your loan. This amount will give you more than enough to live off of and also you will be able to purchase a ticket home if need be for family emergencies.

Don't count on being hired right away after getting your CFI. Things have changed here. The process is different. All recent new hires are part time with no bennies.
 
Also, I would discourage anyone from working while training. I've seen many students do this and it almost always increases time and sometimes cost of training. My advice is to save up as long as it takes and then come down here to train. That said, circumstances will vary.
 
Thanks for the responses, guys!

OK, so I'll definitely plan on arriving in Vero with a few thousand (at least) in cash in my checking account. This changes things a bit for me though with the previous certificates. I honestly wouldn't be able to save any substantial money for FlightSafety Academy, AND pay cash for my PPL, instrument, and AMEL addon up here. The flight school I'd get my PPL-AMEL & Inst at offers SLM loans so I'd have to take out a small loan to pay for my certs, but I would rather not be paying off two loans (local FBO then FSA) at once. So, maybe it's better that I just get all my certificates at FSA but I'll be able to save up more cash in the interim. I'm trying to decide what the best trade-off is. And just FYI, I'm talking about a 2 year time frame before I'm in Vero (Spring/Summer 2012, that's when I'll graduate from college, debt free).
 
soonerpilot06 said:
Don't count on being hired right away after getting your CFI. Things have changed here. The process is different. All recent new hires are part time with no bennies.
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Yeah, that's happening everywhere I think. But when (or if?) the economy recovers and there are more pilots moving up the career ladder, FSA will hopefully start hiring CFI's full time and with bennies again. During the regional hiring spree of 2004-2007, FSA was even hiring outside CFI's, right? So I guess it's all dependent on the economy.
 
If you want to save money don't stay at the dorms, it's a rip off, the rates have gone up crazy. Probably by the time you get to FSA it will cost as much as staying at the Hilton. I was there in 2007 and last month I went back to do some flying, the bungalow was about 10 more dollars a day, and this time no internet in room and you pay for laundry.

Back in 2007 when I moved out campus I saved about 400 dollars a month, just in rent, and I had a pool a gym and I was close to the beach.
 
swisspilot said:
If you want to save money don't stay at the dorms, it's a rip off, the rates have gone up crazy. Probably by the time you get to FSA it will cost as much as staying at the Hilton. I was there in 2007 and last month I went back to do some flying, the bungalow was about 10 more dollars a day, and this time no internet in room and you pay for laundry.

Back in 2007 when I moved out campus I saved about 400 dollars a month, just in rent, and I had a pool a gym and I was close to the beach.
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Yeah, the bungalows are like $40 bucks a day. But how much is that compared to an extended stay hotel, or a rental? You had a roommate "Ryan" so that probably cut your rent but a rented place would mean I'd have to bring my own furniture, TV, bed, etc. right?
 
Dorm prices are fixed per person, so there is no cost saving in having multiple room mates. However the dorms do cover all utilities and include tv and internet. Hard to beat the price of the smaller dorm rooms considering utilities and proximity to school.
 
DeuceOfAces said:
Yeah, the bungalows are like $40 bucks a day. But how much is that compared to an extended stay hotel, or a rental? You had a roommate "Ryan" so that probably cut your rent but a rented place would mean I'd have to bring my own furniture, TV, bed, etc. right?
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Wow I use to pay the bungalow 23 dollars a day back in 2007, and I did not had to share the room.

yes if you move out you will have to find some mates, if you want a place just for you, you will spend about the same then staying on campus.

When I moved out, we had to buy furniture, we spent about 1K each, I lived there for almost two years and I sold my share for 400 dollars. You can get a place, in the same residential community I was living with furniture (this units are not as nice as the one I was in, parking lot view, instead of golf/pond), they are 2bd units, with expenses you land short of 500$ a month for everything. I'm sure that in town you can find for cheaper, maybe not with pool or gym....

There is a Greek guy, that rents studios by the beach (they have kitchen), he will give you some furniture, they go for 700$ a month plus utilities expenses.

You have lots of options in Vero...
 
As of recently the landing strip for shared occupancy was $19.00 a night. Just under $600 a month all utilities included. Yes there are cheaper options outside the dorms with a bunkie, but make sure it's someone you can co-habitate with, and won't have to choke at 3am! You may want to start in the dorms and go from there.
 
pilot4higher said:
As of recently the landing strip for shared occupancy was $19.00 a night. Just under $600 a month all utilities included. Yes there are cheaper options outside the dorms with a bunkie, but make sure it's someone you can co-habitate with, and won't have to choke at 3am! You may want to start in the dorms and go from there.
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It was around 26 when I started, but you had the place just for you. I would never pay $600 a month to share the same bedroom....
 
swisspilot said:
It was around 26 when I started, but you had the place just for you. I would never pay $600 a month to share the same bedroom....
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Ditto.


There are plenty of apartment complexes around here where you can share a two bed/two bath unit and the cost per person would be anywhere from $300 to $400 a month plus utilities.
 
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