Smitty how much debt have you taken on in your short life? More so, how much have you had to start paying back so far? How much of that debt have you paid back while making $8,000 a year as a CFI?
You need to be focusing on figuring out how to repay the loan, not just keep your eye on the prize. It's real tempting to just take out all that money and think "I'll figure something out" but it's not that easy. I can't honestly speak from experience, I've been real lucky so far; but there's a point where luck (parents) run out and judgement has to take over. If you can't exercise good judgement in this realm you're going to be in for it. That involves making a methodical plan and backup plan to make sure that you can pay back your loan. To me, and this is what I'm trying to expouse here, anything else is inmature and has the oppertunity you land you in a lot of sh*t in a few years if you can't pay back the loan. Remember, a lending institution will give you a lot more money than you'll ever be able to pay back.
Furthermore, taking on a large amount of debt removes a large amount of mobility in your career. You might not be able to make that jump to the regionals because you can't afford to take the pay cut from $26,000 a year as an established CFI to $17,000 a year with regional first officer pay. That's something you've got to think about. The way I see things, with you at least, is that you came on here talking about RAA and we told you that you're wasting your money. Now you're taking the same amount of money and putting it elseware. Sure you're getting a four year degree out of it, if you finish the program, but you're taking on an a$$load of debt at rate that while decent, isn't the best in the world.
I guess I could continue to pound you in this post, but there's a point at which you have to get it and I'm not sure you are. That's fine. All I'm doing here is trying to make sure that people know exactly what their actions entail. You make it sound so normal and easy, but it's not, and I don't care to see you lead other people to believe that.
Oh, and why do I have 200 hour, an instrument rating and 3000 posts? Beacuse about two and a half years ago I started dating a girl in a different town and I couldn't afford to fly anymore. The result? I couldn't pay for the training, so I didn't do the training. I could have well gotten a loan a while ago and financed to my hearts desire. I tried to figure out a way, for about two and a half years, to pay for as much as my training on my own as I possibly could. The result? It's not going to happen, so I'm graduating college in December and I'm going to take out the loan after exausting ever other possibilities.
