College Life or Military Life?That is the question I've recently begun asking myself, as college is approaching in 2 years, and for me, the
cheapest it would be, without scholarships and/or grants, would be
about $240,000! (this figure includes food, travel, rent, personal spending, tuition, and one other cost I will get too later.
Life Situation: I am a sophomore in high school, and I don't currently have a job, and thus not taxes, but no income either.
I currently (as of Jan. 2017), have about $4,000 saved in a standard savings account, so I don't expect massive capital gains. Every month $50 is automatically deposited into the bank from my grandfather, and I don't pull any money from it. I will be getting a job within the coming months, and I will have put
at least $15,000 more dollars into it by the time college starts.
I have a small, somewhat decent gas mileage car, (1988 Suzuki Samurai) with no payments, and liability only insurance (will be covered by my parents throughout college), and a brand new, multi-use bike (in-city and mountain hybrid). I will have these throughout college, and afterwards too.
After college, or when I get my own apartment or home, I will have furnishings for it from my current house (bed, desk, nightstand, drawer, TV & PS2 (no cable), small laptop, and desktop computer.
The computer I use for some YouTube side work to gain some small income while also doing something I enjoy (creating content).
Current expenses: Gas: $40/ month
Movies, etc. (money spent hanging out with friends): $100/month
Assets:At time of college starting these will be my current assets (this will be updated if things change, such as acquiring stock)
- Car: can be sold for at least $5,000 in case of emergency
- Furniture: can be collectively sold for about $1,000 dollars
- Computer: desktop (parts or entire machine) can be sold for at least $1,500
- $20,000 cash
Specific Question(s): Here is the unique point to this study, I want to be pilot, which alone is not strange, but the
current high school I am attending, the Southwest, Aeronautics, Mathematics, and Science Academy (SAMS for short), would allow me to get my private pilot and instrument ratings done, for free, before college, which would shave off $40,000 or more of price, depending on the school I go too.
This study is assuming the worst case scenario, me getting no scholarships or other funding, which is unlikely, because I qualify for more than double the cost of college, so I should receive some. Here are my choices:
Go to College- I would get $180,000 in student loans, because I am a good mustache and do not spend as much as the average person.
- I would graduate with my degree, and start flying a small regional airline, which is where all new pilots must start, which has an average salary of $22,000/ year before taxes or deductions.
- The important thing here is that new pilots are effectively paid in experience, to get the opportunity to fly for a
major airline, which has an average closer to $200,000.
- The average pilot can expect to get the higher pay between 12-20 years of beginning flying.
- This would get me a job as a pilot within 4 years.
ORJoin the Air Force- I would have no debts, and the rest of my flight training would be free.
- I would get the starting air force pilot pay of $34,000/ year.
- I would complete training within two years,
but I would have a commitment to stay
at least 10 years before retiring from the military in favor of private work.
- I would then, however, be able join straight onto a larger airline, making closer to the $200,000/ year mark.
Some other important notes are:
- my family would
prefer not joining the military, but will not disown me if I do
- I would not go to an in-state college, because there is not a single college in my state that offers a flight program (that's right, a high school has a better aviation program than all of the colleges here)
This post is assuming the worst case scenario, which will most likely not be the case, but always prepare for the worst.
So what do you, my fellow Mustachians, suggest I do?
Thank you for your help, CCGStache'
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