Community College??

[tcco94]

Never thought id be asking for this type of help. As for most you guys know around here, I come here for help on aviation colleges alot. Most of you know me for my passion for wanting to join the Navy..
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If only I could get into the Naval Academy :-/...But I have a TON of interest in going to ERAU...yes I know, its a waste of money blah blah blah...Ive looked into other universities you guys have suggested for flying. I was looking into ROTC for Navy or Air Force but over the past few months I think my love for the joining the military might just die down. As my vision right now is 20/475 you can tell that my eyes are COMPLETELY horrible and all I ever hear about is how hard it is to fly for the military and on top of that with eye surgery. My mom tells me the only way I can got to ERAU is if I do ROTC, which is a problem.

My main and only goal is to fly. I want to fly commercial, not military even if I had to choose its commercial. So doing more research someone said look into Community College as its much cheaper. Im not the type of guy who wants to go to a CC, I want to go to a university but it seems most of the universitys are a little hard to get into that have aviation programs besides ERAU. Looking at CC prices they are ALOT cheaper than ERAU and other universitys.

So my question is...is it a good idea to go to CC and then get my ratings and such there for cheaper? How do I get a college degree to become a pilot and what do you usually do after the 2 years in CC with all your ratings?

Its funny how most parents dont want there children to go into the military, but sophmore year/last year I told them about flying and ROTC and now they are encouraging me to do ROTC and saying its the only way it will be able to pay for all this....

Unfortunately they dont know that I have a passion to fly commercial...not really military...but as I know it is hard to become a commercial pilot, im completely certain I will have the courage to achieve it.

[flyboy 28]

If you're serious about becoming an officer in the navy, there's a terrific program out there called Seaman to Admiral (STA-21). Basically, if you're enlisted and are eligible for the program, the navy sends you to school for however many years you need to get your bachelor's. And all the while, you're still earning your pay in the navy. It's a pretty sweet gig and I'm definitely going to look into it down the road when I sort out my career. If you want to go the military route and try to get into flight school before you turn 24 (which I think is the max cutoff for the navy), this may be the route to go. If not, well hell. At least you served your country.

https://www.sta-21.navy.mil/

Unfortunately they dont know that I have a passion to fly commercial...not really military...but as I know it is hard to become a commercial pilot, im completely certain I will have the courage to achieve it.

You do know that you'd make more money as an O-1, toddling around in a T-34 than your first few years flying for a regional, right?

[specter177]

Plus it has got to be more fun.

[DaveSims]

My only comment on community college is more general than aviation related.  Make sure the classes you take at a community college will transfer to the university you are thinking of attending.  I have seen time and time again students having to retake classes at a 4-year university that they had already taken in a community college because they would not transfer the credits. 

I myself did not go to community college, I went straight to Louisiana Tech out of high school.  I viewed community college as just another two years of high school, same students, some of the same teachers, and a lot of people get hung up there and never finish. 

[BAW0343]

I'll see if I can't give you a couple of tips,

First shameless plug. Have you taken a look at Arizona State University? Our flying program is in cooperation with Mesa Airlines and I believe a good amount of students get a job with them after they graduate. And I know there's at least one guy who got in with Southwest right after he graduated. A few may also be with united. Not too sure on who went where

Other then that, I know the university of North Dakota has a flight program that works out of community colleges. Where they go after that I couldn't tell ya.

But in re-reading your post it makes it look like your not sure about how you're paying for college. So take or leave my above comments.

[tcco94]

Well ive looked into North Dakota's flying program, Im not sure if there a big school to get into or not, and Ive looked into ASU's flight program a little bit....I thought ASU was charging more for there flying program compared to UND...

I have my sights on going to Embry Riddle as it is right now, and as for paying for my college...I am kinda confused on how I will pay for it, but ive told my mom and dad..im not to worried about it because I'd happily take a student loan to fly. Money will not be a reason for me not to fly, and I told them that the only way I wont pursue my career in flying is if I physically cant do it....but my interest for the Military has died down. I dont wanna fly military just because I can get into the airliners easier...I want to fly the airliners or cargo or such...not military besides the fact that im not even sure if eye surgery after will let me be a pilot.

In community college you can get all 3 ratings that a university gives in only 2 years tho? So when I transfer....what will I do? I was also considering getting a Minor in Meteorology as a back up plan because I dont want to get my degree in Aeronautical Engineering...I want to get it in Aeronautical Science/Professional Pilot.

[SeanTK]

I'm familiar with some of your "higher education adventures"

[tcco94]

Thanks! 

Thats why I want to get a minor in Meteorology because I thought about being getting that degree before I started getting into all the flying stuff...and there isnt much I can do with a Professional Pilot degree and not fly so even if its tough to get that minor it'll be a good backup plan for me and the good part about it is that I could use it for flying if I ever do become a commercial pilot. I love to study about earth and weather so I thought that would be a good degree.

Who knows, I could lose an arm in flight training somehow. 

Lets hope not! 

[H]

Who knows, I could lose an arm in flight training somehow.
Lets hope not!

Well, yeah, after paying for all the education with the other arm and leg, controlling a plane with one leg would be somewhat difficult (aside from the fame/notoriety).

8-)

[tcco94]

Who knows, I could lose an arm in flight training somehow.
Lets hope not!

Well, yeah, after paying for all the education with the other arm and leg, controlling a plane with one leg would be somewhat difficult (aside from the fame/notoriety).

8-)

, Ill be very careful after I pay for all the education I get. If im gunna lose a body part and not be able to fly id at least hope it would happen towards the end of my career. But that was just an example...idk why I would lose an arm or leg in the first place? 

[lunitic_8]

I'm visiting ERAU in a couple of weeks 

[tcco94]

[quote]I'm visiting ERAU in a couple of weeks

[skoker]

I looked at Bowling Geen State University, and I must say it is by far the best aviation college I have looked at.  (and I have seen almost all north east schools and ERAU). Their aviation program is fairly unknown.

The reason I will most likely go there fo college is cost.  They give out pretty good scholarships and are building a new housing unit for freshmen which is very nice.  The airport is 99% bgsu aircraft traffic and they have a nice terminal and maintence hangar.  The airport is right next to the school too. 

They have step aircraft in which you would go from c172 with gauges and dials to piper archer with gauges and dials then arche with glass cockpit and finially Seminole.

If anything I would check it out.  That's where I plan to go, because I don't have much money ROTC qualifications either. (although they do have a ROTC program there.).

[DaveSims]

One thing I would look at when picking an aviation school is how many aircraft they have, how many are typically available (not grounded for maintenance), and how many students are in the program.

When I was at LA Tech, we had 12 Cessna 172s, but were lucky to have 4 flyable at any given time.  When you have 400 students in the program, as we did at the time, it gets tough to get flight time in 4 aircraft.  I think that was a part of the reason I decided to switch to airport management instead of flying.  I just got tired of fighting to get in line for an aircraft. 

[tcco94]

University of North Dakota claims to have to most aircraft out of any university....

Anybody check out Middle Tennessee State University? Discovered there flight program and seems to look really nice. They say the average cost for flying at a university is about $37k but they only have you fly for about $26k...and they recently bought 20 new airplanes...looks like they have a pretty big fleet, and a 727 donated by FedEx (not sure if they fly it or not) but also they said once you graduate and have 500 hours and 100 or 200 of those hours are multi you are guaranteed a interview with American Eagle.

Just thought I'd share since noone has brought up MTSU.

http://www.mtsu.edu/aerospace/index.shtml