Honestly Crystal,
If you are this indecisive at this point in time then you probably chose to go to Riddle on a whim and not as a truely whole hearted, well thought out, fact laden decision... Riddle has a tremendous drop-out rate, not because it is overly difficult, but simply because people find out going there is a lot more than heading to the airport everyday and flying around all day, they simply can't afford it or they decide aviation isn't for them...
On my first day at orientation the Chancellor welcomed us and said "Look at the person to your left, to your right, in front of you and behind you... If YOU are here on graduation day, they won't be..." We all laughed and were thinking "yeah, right"...
He was right...
To answer your earlier question... When I went to Riddle, I spent just under $80k for all four years including my tuition, room & board, flight training (through CFI-MEI, did CFI at ERAU, CFI-I and CFI-ME at local flight school), spending money, travel money, incidentals, etc... Everything included... At a 3% annual rate of inflation, that is equivalent to paying about $120k today... Obviously their tuition has outpaced inflation, but so has every other college...
Last year the average PRIVATE University tuition was $19,710 (up 6% from the previous year)(Source:
CollegeBoard.com) ... Add another 6% for this year and the average will be $20,893 (for the 2004-2005 school year)... Tuition at ERAU for the 2004-2005 school year is $21,530 which is only $637/year more (about 3% more) than the National Average for a PRIVATE University... An interesting note is that Public School tuition went up 14% year over year... )(Source:
CollegeBoard.com)
The estimated annual Flight Training Costs at Riddle are quoted at $10,000 per year (Source:
ERAU Costs), which means about $40,000 for all of your ratings... When I worked at a Part 61 flight school 13 years ago we used to quote people $25,000 - $28,000 for all of your ratings which is equal to $36,713 - $41,119 in today's dollars ($25,000 - $28,000 increased 3% (inflation) for 13 years)... We were WAY cheaper than schools like American Flyers, ComAir, Flight Safety, etc...
As you can see if you compare the costs of a PRIVATE University education and add in the costs of flight training, Riddle isn't that far off the mark... I am in no way saying it is cheap, but when you compare apples to apples they aren't that over priced...
The main cost difference comes from Riddle being a Private University... When comparing costs, you really should compare apples to apples if you want an accurate representation of costs... If you really want to get down to brass tacks, why even get a degree, there are a lot of flying jobs out there that don't require one... Just think of all the money you could save! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif
The irony of all this is that most of the guys on this board who are enjoying a successful aviation career are ERAU Graduates... Food for thought...
