Well for starters you are doing good by going thorugh all you options instead of shooting for the first one.
In your quest avoid the following like the plague;
- Large payments upfront or even during the course.
- A training course with a garanteed job at the end.
Here is why:
There is nothing, read absolutely nothing in the flight training industry which requires a large payment upfront.
You haven't done any training yet, what are you paying for?
If anything it is a tool (read weapon) for a school to tie
you to them. You won't be likely to leave if you still have $20K in your account with no way of getting it back.
Yes, certain things a school needs to pay upfront like, fuel, rent, insurance.
But they shouldn't need your money to do this.
Second, there is no such thing as a garanteed job.
No school can garantee a need for instrcutors or anything else 6-9 months from now. They cannot predict their student load unless they have a training contract with an airline or such.
Yes, I can give you a uniform and a job and tell you to be here from 0800-1800 without getting paid and waiting for customers.
It's called a zero-hour contract and that is not a job.