my 2 cents worth would be,
Flag the commercial schools and go somewhere like the auckland aero club, work and do your flying in the weekends or after work. It wont take that long.
Thats what I did
I did my IR course at ardmore f/s and found them very professional, not sure what they are like now tho, but they make you think you will be employed real quick and its easy to sign up.
Also the student loan intrest rates are higher than the banks at the mo...
Veeeeeery keen to sign you up to the whole lot by the sounds of it.
I reckon you should flag the student loan if you can, just do the instructional techniques course at the schools when you are ready. it would take a couple of months to do the c cat if you worked hard at it.