I'm looking for the best school to obtain all the certifications needed to become a commercial pilot within Dallas, Texas. ATP's website does not detail other finance options besides Sallie Mae, is there other options?
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1
Join the military.
2
Sallie Mae is the government-backed student loan program. There are always other options but most will be more expensive. Keep in mind that you will have a substantial debt once you complete your flight training and that initial salaries are rather low as you build time for that job with the major airlines.
3
ATP has a reputation that is not all bad. They advertise that you will receive your certificates in 90 days, 120 days, or whatever. And you will. You will know exactly enough to pass your checkrides. No more and no less. After you finish you will be thrown out into the world to compete against people who have taken a more traditional route to getting their training and will have a greater level of exposure that you will. for instance: your cross country flights at ATP will involve flying from one ATP campus to another, to another. Ptobably to drop off airplanes that are due for scheduled maintenance and to bring its replacement back to your original campus. You will only see ATP's way, and you will only know what ATP thinks you should know. The graduates I have met frm ATP have gone on to have successful careers. They are ot a *bad* school, simply an insulated one. If you graduate from ATP and then go work for JoeBob's Flight School, you aren't going to know what to do. ATP does everything under IFR if possible, so if you plan on flying VFR someday, you'll be clueless for a while. As for financing, Sallie Mae can be expensive, but they aren't too bad. Look at Key Bank or call some local FBOs that give training and ask them if they do financing. Those are usually financed through large lenders who will loan money to students if they attend a certified "Part 141" school, and ATP is one of those so any financing that is available at FBOs will also be available at ATP.
