oh good god, here we go....
I think Student Loans have their pros and cons:
Pros: good for people who REALLY belong in aviation, want to fly for the real desire of flying, and truly have no other way of paying for it
Cons: really bad for f**kwits who think "hey, here's 80K, i might give this flying thing a try - and who cares about the money, i don't have to pay it back for ages". This is the reason there are so many pilots in NZ - with so little skill and experience.
My advice would be to try the Air Force first before spending any money. Without doubt. And Im sure any military guys (anyone out there reading?!) would agree 100% with this. They don't want pilots with bad habits picked up from GA, and i don't think anyone can truly argue against the fact that air force training is simply the best you can get.
As for the training period, it depends how motivated and driven you are - I went from ab-initio to trained, working commercial in around nine months - but don't get me wrong - it was bloody hard work.
And I'm not working for an airline - thats an even longer road still if that's where you want to end up.
Good luck, and look forward to hearing of your progress.
Kiwi chick