[Flying Ninja]

Jake,

Glad to hear you're continuing your education in both aviation and that BA (which is very important regardless of what career path you choose). At the end of the day, it's all about money and how you plan your finances. $15k isn't bad and since you're going the CFI route, you should be okay. However, since you've held a desk job, you may not want to close that door just yet to pursue a career in aviation. If you can do both, you will have a much better income and still enjoy flying on the side. If you really want to pursue a career pilot gig, I HIGHLY suggest that you carefully analyze the situation. Regional pay is a joke compared to what you were likely taking home from P&W. With the instability of the airline industry, I'd keep my options VERY open. I hate to bad mouth the airline career path but all things considered, unless money flows freely and you have no limit to this resource, it's a lucrative path to walk down, and you seriously need to consider possible scenarios carefully. Be realistic too. If you can't fathom living in a bad neighborhood eating ramen noodles and near begging for your next meal as a worst case scenario, you may want to reconsider. I'm not saying it'll be that bad, but I know that scenario exists. Who knows, maybe the airlines will get their ducks in a row by the time you're ready to move on from the CFI gig.

In any event, my only advice to you is to stay debt free as soon as possible and stablize your income/finances as soon as possible. Do lots of research and ask lots of questions. You're going to run into a lot of optimists online, but consider whether these optimists are so positive because money isn't an issue for them. For the rest of us who have to earn every dollar, getting into the airline industry is very difficult.

Best of luck!