Im not hating on ERAU, im just speaking from the experience i have had with the instructors and the people. I interviewed for a job a few weeks ago and was hired over three other people, two of which were riddle grads with more hours than me.
so based off that, i come to the conclusion that just because you have graduated from there does not give you the advantage.
I got a few of my ratings from a podunksville flight school as well and i am willing to bet that the training i recieved there is better than anything riddle or any other pilot mill in florida could produce.
There's one constant for aviation jobs. It doesn't matter where you went to school, short of very difficult flying like military or single pilot night cargo, it doesn't matter what you flew. It just matters how many hours you have.
I have to tell you guys. 90% of private colleges are an absolute waste of money. If you can get some sort of grant or scholarship that brings tuition down to the state school level then it may be a good choice. Otherwise, you can get just as good of an education if not better by going to a state school. Like I said, Harvard, Yale, Stanford might be worth $40,000+ a year. However, most private schools, Embry Riddle included, are a rip-off. My wife went to the University of Michigan paid $9,000 a year and was able to get into a top tier grad school. I went to Bowling Green State University and easily made it to Captain.
Honestly, I think the best choice is to do two years at a community college then finish out at a state school. Out of high school I went to a community college for a year, my total tuition for that year was $1200. In that year I knocked out every gen ed requirement for BGSU for about an 8th of the price. Also, after that first year the transfer requirements for most schools were about half what the freshman entry requirements were. Schools that wanted a 1200 sat and a 3.5 GPA were fairly satisfied with a straight 3.0 GPA (which isn't very hard to get in a community college).
No offense Gymhaus, but Embry Riddle isn't the Harvard of the sky that's just a clever moniker. When you applied for Embry Riddle what were the GPA and SAT/ACT requirements? Somewhere around a 4.0 and 1400? Did you have to be class president and captain of the football team? Embry Riddle calls itself Harvard of the Sky as a way of separating gullible kids from their money. I'm guessing that you've only recently started to pay back those loans. I don't envy you at all. My wife and I have a modest $60,000 or so in student loans along with credit card debt that we used for living expenses. 10 years later we're still paying it off.
To the OP, I urge you to do whatever is possible to avoid large student loan payments. As an FO making 19,000 a year you'll barely be able to eat while paying back those loans to Embry Riddle. Also, if you're going to take the time and trouble to obtain a college degree, get a degree in something that is useful if you lose your license. If I had to do it right now I would get a degree in a medical related field. Nursing with a BS would be an excellent option, my IOE Captain was an RN and he would pick up shifts a few nights a week at the hospital for a very handsome wage. Another good option would be engineering, accounting, pre-med, pre-dentistry anything that requires a professional license. Even if you just have the first four years done, you're that much closer to a license. In the coming years, these professional designations are going to be the difference between a middle class and lower class income.
I know that you don't want to do anything but fly. However, when that first furlough hits or you start to have heart problems all you're going to want is a way to feed your family. At that point all your years in the cockpit, along with your Aviation Science degree, are useless. Push yourself and get a degree in something you can use. I'm a prime example of someone that should have gotten a better degree. Once I had children I couldn't stand being away from home. The low wage I was earning basically paid for daycare and a few burgers from wendy's. I ended hating the job enough that I quit. Now I really wish I had a fallback degree that didn't require a masters. Learn from other people's mistakes.
