Hi everyone,
I am an aspiring airline pilot. I have been accepted into numerous aviation colleges but narrowed my choices down to ERAU and SIU. Basically ERAU has everything that I want and its my dream school. I would love to be by the beach and the warm weather year round. ERAU also has over 12 airline partnerships and they have more than 150 planes to practice on. ERAU is definitely a very well known aviation university and I feel that their connections will help me land an airline job. Embry Riddle will cost me about $52,000 a year after scholarships and grants and SIU will cost me about $36,000. The only reason why I would go to SIU is because it’s cheaper. I don’t like the location or the cold weather. Also for SIU I have to start my flying with an associate’s degree and then combine it with a bachelor’s because they don’t offer a bachelor’s degree for flight students. SIU only has about 25 - 30 planes and only 4 airline partnerships. I want to make a good financial decision and go for the cheaper school (SIU) but it makes me feel as if I’m settling for a college instead of going to my dream college. ERAU makes me happy but are their airline connections worth the money in the end?
If you have the money, then it is worth it. If you don’t have the money, then it isn’t possible.
Just research SIU they are having a lot of issues with enrollment… I think the campus went from 25k students to around 11k… services might be cut so just make sure it’s worth the amount your paying @rupasyeda
Also not a big fan of Daytona Beach… lol
Are you a senior this year? I think Purdue Aviation is a much better program than SIU, and the tuition for OOS is similar to that of SIU. It’s definitely cheaper than Embry Riddle, and I think higher ranked. SIU and Illinois in general have some serious financial issues, so that would be of major concern to me.
Usually you are comparing tuition PLUS flight school. I know at Daughter’s school (Florida Tech) flight school is extra and is not eligible for financial aid.
Hi, I go to ERAU-DB, although I’m not a pilot. Here’s the blunt, honest answer: unless your parents are incredibly rich (and most pilot students here are), you can’t afford this school.
I’m not sure about SIU being a good choice, but don’t come to Riddle unless your parents have money to burn (and some people do! And if they do, good for you! Do it if you want to!) Riddle is known for crippling middle class and poorer families. So, if you’re in that latter bucket, don’t come here.
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Usually you are comparing tuition PLUS flight school. I know at Daughter’s school (Florida Tech) flight school is extra and is not eligible for financial aid.
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Same situation here.
Riddle flight instruction tacks on about ~25k to an already expensive private school total cost (around 52k). You’re looking at above-NYU-prices by the time you’re done.
Seriously: the pilot students here are either incredibly rich or will be permanently crippled by debt. Do NOT find yourself in the latter group.
Doesn’t minnesota Mankato and North Dakota offer the same program?
Yeah I actually came across some teacher strike conflict. Thank you.
I am currently a senior. I unfortunately didn’t apply to Purdue. I think the deadline might have passed by now.
Wow I didn’t realize the debt was so bad. Someone reached out to me from your Women’s Ambassader Program and basically made it seem like the money wasn’t that much. I do fall under the low income student so I appreciate your honest answer. Thank you!
@elodyCOH, SIUC charges everyone in-state rates now. Direct costs (tuition + fees + R&B) comes to $25K/year.
For ERAU, direct costs are close to $50K/year.
Both would require more flight training costs, which is another big chunk.
Not sure where the OP got his numbers from.
Do you have any other options besides those two? Poster above mention NDSU which can be a cheaper option but I do not know by how much.
Kat
@PurpleTitan I was saying if he weren’t a senior Purdue might have been a better choice than ERAU. SIU is the cheapest option, but Illinois (and the regional Universities in particular) are seeing significant declines in enrollment, and SIU has been hit by that pretty hard.
What is your home state?
Who is going to cosign your loans anyway?
Embry-Riddle does not have an issue with crippling student debt so I’m not sure what sample population the other person is talking about. The graduates are hired for competitive salaries as soon as they graduate and can pay back the debt incurred. This information is available on IPEDS.
@natalie219 - Students can’t take on crippling levels of debt on their own. Someone has to co-sign for it, or the parents have to borrow it for the student and then set up their own repayment plan with that student. Records for private loans and Parent PLUS loans often are invisible to educational institutions, and consequently often aren’t reported by the institutions. So yes, there could be a whole bunch of debt-cripples out there from Embry-Riddle, but the institution itself would have no easy way to identify them, and no reason to report them.
I’m in MN and was also going to suggest these schools. Mankato is partnered with Delta and out of state tuition is only 16K/year (of course you’d have living expenses and flight costs as well, but still a lower cost option).
For what it’s worth, Eastern Kentucky University has an aviation program. I don’t know whether or not additional aviation fees apply, but out of state sticker price is about $35K.
Bowling Green also has an Aviation degree. https://www.bgsu.edu/technology-architecture-and-applied-engineering/schools-and-departments/engineering-technologies/bgsu-aviation/estimated-costs.html Cost is $29K OOS plus cost per flying course