I funded mine through working 3 jobs / 60 - 80 hour weeks from 18-25 years old (only 2 jobs from 16-18 while I was at college)
From getting my PPL at 18 it took another 5 years to finish through the modular route.
To me the funding part was the easiest. My full time job was working in recruitment and the other 2 jobs were working for 2 well known fast food chains on minimum wage for the other 20-40 hours a week which meant I cleared about £2k a month take home pay.
I funded it in 2 parts: £35k from my wages through the PPL, Hour building, ATPL ground school and into the CPL and a £25k bank loan to get me through the rest of the CPL/ME/IR/MCC which I easily paid off in 3 years (Around £770 per month repayments)
If you’re like I was: young, living with parents, kids free and mortgage free then there is no excuse why it can’t be done.
I get a lot of ground / ops staff saying that I’m sooooo lucky to be a pilot and moaning that they can’t pay for their training but they’re happy to lease that brand new Audi or get that fancy city centre apartment. They nearly choke on the suggestion of getting a second job which is quite easy for a lot of them working 4 on 4 off shifts.
Am I jealous or people who’s parents paid for their training or earned sponsorship ? Absolutely not, I enjoyed my path to the flight deck even it it did mean delivering take away to extremely rough council estates and turning up to all my friends 18th/21st birthdays sticking of fast food !
The poor determined working class violin I can play also helped at my interview. The pilots were actually impressed to see a CV full of work instead of just pilot training and some “Aviation consultancy” which everyone knows is code for “couldn’t be arsed getting a job while I waited around for my shot at the flight deck”
If you really want it and don’t have the funds already you’ve got to go out and earn it!