Uni or full time job
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: australia
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Why can't you go to uni and have a part time job to save for your flying?
It'll work out for me (all going well ofcourse!). I live in good ol' Oz, so it'll cost me aboust $50K all up. That works out to be about a third of what you will have to pay though. Anyway uni is great. I earn just enough every week to fly and put some money away for my CPL. I'm doing my ATPL as an elective through uni, and I fly privately every month.
Uni isn't for everyone though. But it has helped me learn how to learn.... if you know what I mean, and the life is great (when I can afford to go out). Having said that, I don't think that I would enjoy a trade if I lose my medical/flying job, so uni is probably the best option for ME.
I also believe that to get an airline job in the US, you must have a degree and although that isn't the case here or in the UK now, it maybe in the future.
Anyway, my recomendation is go to uni, but make up your own mind.
fnb
PS if you decide to go to uni, do something that you enjoy. I started out doing IT and found it very boring.
It'll work out for me (all going well ofcourse!). I live in good ol' Oz, so it'll cost me aboust $50K all up. That works out to be about a third of what you will have to pay though. Anyway uni is great. I earn just enough every week to fly and put some money away for my CPL. I'm doing my ATPL as an elective through uni, and I fly privately every month.
Uni isn't for everyone though. But it has helped me learn how to learn.... if you know what I mean, and the life is great (when I can afford to go out). Having said that, I don't think that I would enjoy a trade if I lose my medical/flying job, so uni is probably the best option for ME.
I also believe that to get an airline job in the US, you must have a degree and although that isn't the case here or in the UK now, it maybe in the future.
Anyway, my recomendation is go to uni, but make up your own mind.
fnb
PS if you decide to go to uni, do something that you enjoy. I started out doing IT and found it very boring.
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Farnborough, UK
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Become a graduate
I'm afraid I'll have to disagree with some of the things www has said.
1) If, as someone doing a MA, you are able to earn £10000 a year (I know nothing about this, so I'll take that as fact) there is no way you could save £40000 in 4 years. You'd be lucky to take home £30000 in 4 years on that wage, and if you could save a third of that I'd be impressed.
2) Ok, so you can maximise your savings by living with your parents while doing this MA, but you can also do the same while going to Uni - go to a close uni and live at home.
3) Lucifer makes some good points - your builder friend may well have a good life getting something like £58k gross, of which you say he only sees about half, but that's probably about him max earning potential - most graduates I know pass this mark when they have about 4 - 6 years experience, and depending on the industry will go on to much more than this.
4) As a non-graduate you may well be able to still get well paying jobs such as these manual jobs like brick laying, chippy etc, but as a graduate you'll be able to get much more interesting work, and it the end will have a much higher earning potential.
We're all of course tailored in our opinions by the background we have, and the choices we've made, so these are just my opinion, and aren't meant to be anything against what you've said as such, just the way I see it.
If you want to fly in the future - go to university, do a course you'll enjoy, but that is academic, and if you can join a UAS. You'll have 3 of the best years in your life, and won't regret any of them. In my experience.
1) If, as someone doing a MA, you are able to earn £10000 a year (I know nothing about this, so I'll take that as fact) there is no way you could save £40000 in 4 years. You'd be lucky to take home £30000 in 4 years on that wage, and if you could save a third of that I'd be impressed.
2) Ok, so you can maximise your savings by living with your parents while doing this MA, but you can also do the same while going to Uni - go to a close uni and live at home.
3) Lucifer makes some good points - your builder friend may well have a good life getting something like £58k gross, of which you say he only sees about half, but that's probably about him max earning potential - most graduates I know pass this mark when they have about 4 - 6 years experience, and depending on the industry will go on to much more than this.
4) As a non-graduate you may well be able to still get well paying jobs such as these manual jobs like brick laying, chippy etc, but as a graduate you'll be able to get much more interesting work, and it the end will have a much higher earning potential.
We're all of course tailored in our opinions by the background we have, and the choices we've made, so these are just my opinion, and aren't meant to be anything against what you've said as such, just the way I see it.
If you want to fly in the future - go to university, do a course you'll enjoy, but that is academic, and if you can join a UAS. You'll have 3 of the best years in your life, and won't regret any of them. In my experience.
Perfect PFL - You seem to have ignored the Assumptions aspect of the first part of my posting.
You want to be a pilot as soon as possible. You are going to have to pay for your own training. In which case following a vocational route is preferable.
And do not fall into the trap of thinking a degree is better than a high end City&Guilds or HNC.
These are seriously technical qualifications held in the very highest regard by industry. I have heard industry leader after leader expound the view that they would like this country move towards the German model whereby fewer people do purely academic degreed and more do apprenticeships and day release vocational study.
WWW
You want to be a pilot as soon as possible. You are going to have to pay for your own training. In which case following a vocational route is preferable.
And do not fall into the trap of thinking a degree is better than a high end City&Guilds or HNC.
These are seriously technical qualifications held in the very highest regard by industry. I have heard industry leader after leader expound the view that they would like this country move towards the German model whereby fewer people do purely academic degreed and more do apprenticeships and day release vocational study.
WWW
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Farnborough, UK
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WWW,
As I said, our views can be made quite a lot by our own experiences, and so maybe I'm just trying to tell myself I've made the right decisions.
If you are determined to pay for the ATPL yourself, then you're probably correct that University is not the best route to take to achieve this. Personally I wouldn't shell out £40k + myself without a pretty certain job waiting for me at the end of it, but I know there are people out there who are willing to take that chance, and good luck to them.
Pete
As I said, our views can be made quite a lot by our own experiences, and so maybe I'm just trying to tell myself I've made the right decisions.
If you are determined to pay for the ATPL yourself, then you're probably correct that University is not the best route to take to achieve this. Personally I wouldn't shell out £40k + myself without a pretty certain job waiting for me at the end of it, but I know there are people out there who are willing to take that chance, and good luck to them.
Pete
The old soapbox is looking bit battered I admit 
Just been chatting to an old schoolfriend of mine - the one who became a builder at 16. He has a sideline in putting in kitchens over weekends for £400 cash... All he has is a bag of tools, a van and a mobile...
He likes to do one a month and turns down work constantly. He then has £400 "silly money" for the next 3 weekends. Not forgetting he makes more in the week than I do anyway being a chippy.
£400 a weekend for putting in IKEA kitchens for people like me who barely have a screwdriver to their name. The tax man knows 'nowt naturally.
Thats half your ATPL exams. Thats 4 hours basic flight training. Thats your Class One medical.
Thats how much your first year books will cost on an Engineering degree.
WWW
Just been chatting to an old schoolfriend of mine - the one who became a builder at 16. He has a sideline in putting in kitchens over weekends for £400 cash... All he has is a bag of tools, a van and a mobile...
He likes to do one a month and turns down work constantly. He then has £400 "silly money" for the next 3 weekends.
Not forgetting he makes more in the week than I do anyway being a chippy.£400 a weekend for putting in IKEA kitchens for people like me who barely have a screwdriver to their name. The tax man knows 'nowt naturally.
Thats half your ATPL exams. Thats 4 hours basic flight training. Thats your Class One medical.Thats how much your first year books will cost on an Engineering degree.WWW
