How to Finance Your Dream

If your like me then you have struggled to come up with the financing for pilot training. It is even harder if you aren't doing it through a big school or university. But even enrolled as a full time college student and doing flight school on the side I have found a way. And so can you! Below is a list of all the options I explored and whats available to us. Please comment and add to this list if you have any other ideas. Feed back is always appreciated! Keep in mind the banks don't give out loans for flight training specifically anymore.

• Work
• Yes, the best way to stay debt free is to work and fly with the money you have. This happens to also be the hardest way if you are still in college or high school. Working while balancing school can be tough. Not to mention your probably only looking at minimum wage for your first few jobs. However, I have a part time job and any extra money I have goes into the flying fund.  If you are still in high school or younger start saving. Open a separate account for your flying costs and save up. You'll really appreciate it in the future.
• Scholarships
• There are TONS of aviation scholarships that many don't know about or apply for. With a well written essay and solid recommendations you'll stand a good shot at getting at least one scholarship to help training. This can range from $500 to covering the cost of all your training. 
• Student Loans
• Use these as a last resort. Remember anything you borrow you have to pay back with interest. However they are very helpful if you are a student looking for training funds. My parents would not pay for my flight training so I was forced to get some student loans. But you said above that banks don't give out loans for flight training? Correct. However if you are in college there are ways to do it. Check with your university and see if they will honor any of your flying for college credit. My school required me to type up a syllabus and present to them why they should consider giving me credit but it worked. Through your university you can get student loans from Wells Fargo or Sallie Mae. Any extra money not needed for your tuition (or your tuition is already paid for ) will go straight to you. Then you can use this for flying. But remember, lat resort. 
• Pilot Finance
• PilotFinance.com offers loans specifically for flight training. While this can be helpful they do have high interest rates and I have heard they are strict about some limitations of the loan. However if you can pay this off quickly (6 months or so) then it can be a great short time loan for anyone looking to fly. 
• Commercial License
• Once you have this you can fly for compensation as well as build hours of flight time. Look for jobs towing banners or parachute dropping. There are tons of things one can do with a commercial license that will help pay for flight costs.