Thank you so much....this has been really helpful!

Anonymous wrote:My son is graduating with a general undergrad degree and is sure what he now wants to do with his life is fly. Cost is a factor. He isn't thinking about a military option. Any current recommendations as to the best route?

There are programs out there—ran into the parents of one of my son’s classmates and they said their son is doing some sort of pilot training program in Denver. I don’t remember which airline (maybe United, they’re big there) but a quick search found this:
https://careers.southwestair.com/D225Cadet

I met a guy who was a partner at a large regional accounting firm. For his 42nd birthday his wife bought him a try out flying thing and he loved it. Got his pilots license and a couple years after that quit the accounting and went on to get his commercial license and jet ratings and became a pilot for a private jet company. Eventually hired by an owner

I met him on a Delta flight as he was criss-crossing the country looking for a new plane for his employer to buy. As he put it a "prominent" family that lives in Arkansas. His budget was 50 million bucks.

He said he couldn't have been happier. Flying one family around all the time. They let him bring his wife and kids on ultra-luxury trips, etc. And he made more than he did as an accountant.

Not sure if this is still true but it used to be that you made shockingly little money the first few years. If so, prepare for that on top of the education expense.