Flight colleges Worth the Money?

[Boieng747pilot]

Hey all,

I was wondering... if colleges like ERAU, UND, and Purdue are worth the $$$. Do they give you a lot of hours? How much? Do they prep you for the airlines?

Do the airlines even care if you are an ERAU, UND, etc grad with an Aeronautical degree?

Thanks

[Doug Taylor]

Originally Posted by Boieng747pilot

Hey all,

I was wondering... if colleges like ERAU, UND, and Purdue are worth the $$$. Do they give you a lot of hours? How much? Do they prep you for the airlines?

Go there if you specifically want to go there, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the airlines are going to fall over themselves because you went to an aviation college opposed to an inexpensive state college. More Reading. You may actually come out with fewer hours if it's part-141 training.

Additionally, the more hours you 'get' as a student, that's more money out of your pocket.

Do the airlines even care if you are an ERAU, UND, etc grad with an Aeronautical degree?

See above.

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by Boieng747pilot

Hey all,

I was wondering... if colleges like ERAU, UND, and Purdue are worth the $$$. Do they give you a lot of hours? How much? Do they prep you for the airlines?

Do the airlines even care if you are an ERAU, UND, etc grad with an Aeronautical degree?

Thanks

Here's the thing. NOBODY is going to give you hours. You are paying for them. Your goal is to find the place who will give you the best possible instruction for the lowest cost per hour.

Here's an idea - Doug, the website owner and Delta pilot who responded to you went to ERAU - ask him what he would do now.

[Doug Taylor]

State college, fly on the side, non-aviation degree program!

Four years of state college life instead of five years of "Dude, I was flying and uhh, I almost crashed once!" sausage parties

[Boieng747pilot]

Originally Posted by Ian J

Here's the thing. NOBODY is going to give you hours. You are paying for them. Your goal is to find the place who will give you the best possible instruction for the lowest cost per hour.

Here's an idea - Doug, the website owner and Delta pilot who responded to you went to ERAU - ask him what he would do now.

Right... I want to re word the thread... Instead of give, I mean allow you to fly and accumilate hours, as well as learn about the airlines alot?

Thanks..
Boeing

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by Boieng747pilot

Right... I want to re word the thread... Instead of give, I mean allow you to fly and accumilate hours, as well as learn about the airlines alot?

Thanks..
Boeing

I'm no Delta pilot and am just a dirty freight dawg, but below is what I'd do to, for what it's worth.

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

State college, fly on the side, non-aviation degree program!

Four years of state college life instead of five years of "Dude, I was flying and uhh, I almost crashed once!" sausage parties

[Doug Taylor]

Me, personally, I felt a little cheated after going to ERAU. Others here had a different experience and that's hunky dory!

I went from an environment of advanced placement calculus, physics and to "Maff fer piolitts", "Engerlish for folks that really don't care", "Microeconomics for oh hell, pull out your Gleim and review that for all I care".

The flight training was good, very structured by we did a lot of imbreeding -- where our instructors were previous students and we were in a closed-loop. Things that were "technique only" became procedures that it was told that Moses brought down from Mount Siani on stone tablet because there was very little input from the outside world.

The AS courses were good, but did we really need two semesters of Aircraft Systems and Components? Ehh... No.

However I made some of my best friends in the world at ERAU, but if I had to do it again, without considering the friends I made at ERAU, I'd have gone to an inexpensive state college and studied electrical or software engineering so I can bring some of these crazy ideas of mine to fruition.

You may or may not crave that structure!

[butt]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

Four years of state college life instead of five years of "Dude, I was flying and uhh, I almost crashed once!" sausage parties

This is the main reason to stay away from "pilot colleges". I went to a large-ish state college that had a small aviation program. About 90% of my friends were non-aviation, so it was easy for me to escape aviation every once in a while. After a long day at the airport, it was nice to come home and not hear a single aeronautical thing until tomorrow. At a place like ERAU, I imagine that would be kind of hard.

[777forever]

I would follow the footsteps of PeanuckleCRJ and Alchemy. Both went to big time Div 1. colleges, had a blast (Im guessing), got their ratings on side, built time in college and got hired shortly after graduating college. Both became regional captains under 25 years old. Awesome job guys, I definitely look up to these two and try to follow their footsteps.

[sixoneseven]

Originally Posted by Doug Taylor

State college, fly on the side, non-aviation degree program!

Four years of state college life instead of five years of "Dude, I was flying and uhh, I almost crashed once!" sausage parties

Exactly.

[MQAAord]

Bill went to SIU. In-state tuition at a state school, joined a fraternity with a wide variety of people/majors, got all his ratings but was not surrounded by AIRPLANES.

[My Flight Surgeon]

The benefits of college are meeting people with multiple interests. It is a growing experience. You also must consider what your aviation related degree is worth if the industry crumbles and the big furlough hit, you lose your medical, you decide you hate flying.....Get a marketable degree AND your ratings.

[moxiepilot]

in my opinion, to answer the first question: no.
the second and third question: they will try to get you through in the minimum, remember theyre a business.
the fourth question: no. not unless you want to pay more for a bunch of stuff you can learn for free by the internet and hanging around the hangar.
the fifth question: no.

[the_dmn8tr]

I chose UND because it felt right to me. It all depends on your preference. Am I surrounded by aviation people? Yes. Do I know other people? Yes. It is about diversifying yourself too. Am I going to get a second major or minor? You bet your a$$.

Remember, no one can tell you what is best for you, you have to make the call in the end.

[Kristie]

I think the one thing people forgot to answer so far was if the airlines care where you get your degree or what your degree is in....nope.. they don't give a crap as long as you have the hours to apply to their company.

The companies (most of the legacies) require you to have a degree in order to apply at their airline but again, they don't care what it's in or what you intend to do with it...just that you have it.

The degree only benefits YOU and with that, you should plan on your degree being a "backup" degree in case anything ever happens and your unable to fly.

[Screaming_Emu]

All in all, I was happy with the education I got at UND. I did learn a lot and the flight training was great. What I liked about UND was that the aviation part of the school was only about 1/4 of the people there...if that. It is a state college that just happens to have an aviation program.

Would I go there again? Probably not, but that's mostly because of the location. Its very easy to get in state tuition in ND so that helps keep the costs down.

Also, I was quite skeptical when everyone at UND was like "our name will get you hired". Which isn't true, but in my personal experience it has made it easier to get interviews, where your knowledge and personality will do the rest.

But again, all the paths talked about on here lead to the same place. Some go slightly quicker, but don't be worried about speed, be worried about actually learning something.

[Seggy]

I went to a big state university, played football there, and did my training on the side.

There are a TON of guys at the regionals who are going to stay at the regionals because they don't have a four year degree. Don't limit yourself down the road, get the four year.

[Nick]

Originally Posted by Seggy

There are a TON of guys at the regionals who are going to stay at the regionals because they don't have a four year degree. Don't limit yourself down the road, get the four year.

Additionally I would like to say that the regionals are less predictable and less stable than the major airlines are and thus one who is under the age of 35ish, even if employed at a quality regional airline, would have it in their best interest to eventually move on. To do that, you need the college.

I don't think I'd wanna skip college anyway; it was fun and all my college friends are the the people I still hang out with, not so much the high school people any more.

[E_Dawg]

Do not go to an aviation college. The only reason you would is to fly and go to school at the same time, something that's entirely possible at ANY SCHOOL!!

You will save TONS of money, take MUCH more interesting classes, and avoid the pompous 'HARVARD of the Skies!' attitude that is fairly prevalent at Riddle and the like.

I did pt 61 training on my own time during my first two years of college and it was great. Then, through connections I made during training, I got a cargo gig and transferred to Riddle online, which is about as close to that school as I ever want to get.

[Boieng747pilot]

Thanks guys...

It's cool to see all kinds of different perspectives on colleges.

[Doug Taylor]

Originally Posted by E_Dawg

You will save TONS of money, take MUCH more interesting classes, and avoid the pompous 'HARVARD of the Skies!' attitude that is fairly prevalent at Riddle and the like.

Right after US News & World Report said that, the tuition skyrocketed. Aye yi yi, that sentence costed me a buttload of tuition dollars.

But the funny thing is, is that they meant "Harvard of the Skies" because of our killer Electrical Engineering program, not Aeronautical Science (flying) or Aerospace Engineering.

But to reiterate, I have a four year degree in Aeronautical Science, and me personally, I wish I studied something else as I do enjoy flying, but as I grew older, my non-aviation interests blossomed and I wished I had a broader foundation in electrical and software engineering.

If I had Mike Lewises education and brains, I'd be passed out (I know you've all heard it before) but I'd be passed out on a yacht in the mediterranean listening to the empty bottles of Cristal roll back and forth!

[Ducky]

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

[Boieng747pilot]

Ok I did... what does it do?

[Boieng747pilot]

Nevermind... back on topic please!!!

[jwp_145]

I'm assuming you know that you spelled Boeing wrong in your screen name...

Anyhow, back to the topic... I went to Oklahoma State University for their aviation science program (professional pilot). My major reason for doing this, aside from all of the valuable knowledge I gained in classes like Systems, is that I had to use student loans to pay for my flight training. I did not have the benefit of anyone co-signing for me, so I had to rely on government guaranteed loans. In order to get a cost-of-education increase in my yearly loan amount, I had to be enrolled in the pilot degree program because the ratings I earned were "Labs".... Instrument Flight Lab, etc... The amount I was able to borrow on my own was then increased to cover the cost of the flight lab. I would not have been able to get adequate loans to cover the cost of the flight training had I been enrolled in say a Graphic Design degree program, as I was previously.

Just my .02