My name is Jason and currently I am a flight instructor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott Arizona. I attended Embry-Riddle from 1998 to 2004. I graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Aeronautical Science and I have been working for the university for almost 4 years now. I had great dreams of completing college and becoming an airline or corporate pilot. I knew I would have to build hours as an flight instructor to be able to move on to one of these careers. However, what I did not anticipate is the fact that I would have had to use up all my loan deferments in the process. Now I’m paying back over $1400 a month in student loans interest only.
The problem is that in order for me to be able to move on to a great flying job I would have to work for a regional airline that will only pay me around $1200 per month. As you can see that is not enough to even pay on my loans. This has kind of trapped me at Embry-Riddle where I make around $45k per year. Because of my large student loan debt that pay barley keeps my head above water. So for the last year now I have been seriously thinking of how I can either move on in my pilot career or move onto a new career field. So far it has been very tough trying to move on from my current job. Sometimes I look back and wish someone sat down with me and really helped guide me with my choice to go to this college. I only say that because I had to use all loans to do it. At the time when I was getting ready to go to college Embry-Riddle was really selling me the idea that after graduation they had a 96% placement rate and that pilots made a lot of money. Plus I had a love for flying so I thought this would be a great career. Well like I said above now I’m trapped in a corner. In order to get the good corporate flying job I once wanted I would have to go work for a regional airline for about a year. But since just about all of the regionals pay so little I would not be able to afford to pay my loans. So how the heck do I get from point b to c? Don’t get me wrong I like my flight instructing job but any pilot knows that is just a stepping stone to a better job.
When I look back I wish I did the aerospace engineering program. For one I think it would be awesome to work for a company like scaled composites. Flying for them would be great and working on space craft would be exciting. Plus then I would be making the kind of money to have a decent life. I would be able to pay on my large loan payments and still have some money left over so that I’m not always worrying if I’m going to be able to make next month’s payment. My girlfriend’s cousin just finished with a nurse anesthesia program and got hired on starting at 160K a year. How come no one told me about such jobs before I went to riddle?
I feel like I got ripped off sometimes. I owe over 200K in student loans for a career that pays so little. I know most of this is probably my fault for not doing more research, but I was a 20 year old that did not know better. I’ve been trying to come up with ways to supplement my income. I used all my last 2 years of tax refunds to buy about $3500 worth of apparel printing machines. I have had some business but not enough in the last year to break even from the equipment purchase. I’m still chugging away on it though.
Anyways, if I could just get rid of this student loan debt I could actually pursue moving on with my life without the gigantic financial nightmare I find myself in. I’m not asking for anyone to send me money. I am willing to give my Great Lakes, AES, and Sallie Mae account information to someone who is interested in helping out. They can call each lender to verify my debt. Sallie Mae is the one that I owe around 200K to. I’m not going to lie I would love for someone to help with the Sallie Mae loan. I would be just fine paying the Great Lakes and AES on my own which is around 50K.
I’m not just asking this because of my current situation but would like to be in a position someday to help my mom and sister out financially who take care of my other sister that is mentally handicapped and cannot be left alone. I have to give my younger sister props for sacrificing education at the moment to work at home taking care of my other sister while my mom works. It is hard to find someone responsible and reliable to be there everyday to watch my handicapped sister. I hope to someday have a job that pays very well so that I can afford to pay someone around 30K a year to be a full time caretaker for my sister to help my mom and other sister out.
Again if I can get help from someone I may try and get grants and scholarships to get my RN and move into the health profession or I think it would be neat to work on an Aerospace degree if I could get enough scholarships and grants to do so. I’m 31 but what the heck right? I can verify everything I have stated. I’m not looking for any help beyond my loan debt. I included my email link at the bottom of the page if anyone would like to contact me. I’m just looking for an opportunity or a way to pay this off. Thank you for reading this entire letter.
Jason
The problem is that in order for me to be able to move on to a great flying job I would have to work for a regional airline that will only pay me around $1200 per month. As you can see that is not enough to even pay on my loans. This has kind of trapped me at Embry-Riddle where I make around $45k per year. Because of my large student loan debt that pay barley keeps my head above water. So for the last year now I have been seriously thinking of how I can either move on in my pilot career or move onto a new career field. So far it has been very tough trying to move on from my current job. Sometimes I look back and wish someone sat down with me and really helped guide me with my choice to go to this college. I only say that because I had to use all loans to do it. At the time when I was getting ready to go to college Embry-Riddle was really selling me the idea that after graduation they had a 96% placement rate and that pilots made a lot of money. Plus I had a love for flying so I thought this would be a great career. Well like I said above now I’m trapped in a corner. In order to get the good corporate flying job I once wanted I would have to go work for a regional airline for about a year. But since just about all of the regionals pay so little I would not be able to afford to pay my loans. So how the heck do I get from point b to c? Don’t get me wrong I like my flight instructing job but any pilot knows that is just a stepping stone to a better job.
When I look back I wish I did the aerospace engineering program. For one I think it would be awesome to work for a company like scaled composites. Flying for them would be great and working on space craft would be exciting. Plus then I would be making the kind of money to have a decent life. I would be able to pay on my large loan payments and still have some money left over so that I’m not always worrying if I’m going to be able to make next month’s payment. My girlfriend’s cousin just finished with a nurse anesthesia program and got hired on starting at 160K a year. How come no one told me about such jobs before I went to riddle?
I feel like I got ripped off sometimes. I owe over 200K in student loans for a career that pays so little. I know most of this is probably my fault for not doing more research, but I was a 20 year old that did not know better. I’ve been trying to come up with ways to supplement my income. I used all my last 2 years of tax refunds to buy about $3500 worth of apparel printing machines. I have had some business but not enough in the last year to break even from the equipment purchase. I’m still chugging away on it though.
Anyways, if I could just get rid of this student loan debt I could actually pursue moving on with my life without the gigantic financial nightmare I find myself in. I’m not asking for anyone to send me money. I am willing to give my Great Lakes, AES, and Sallie Mae account information to someone who is interested in helping out. They can call each lender to verify my debt. Sallie Mae is the one that I owe around 200K to. I’m not going to lie I would love for someone to help with the Sallie Mae loan. I would be just fine paying the Great Lakes and AES on my own which is around 50K.
I’m not just asking this because of my current situation but would like to be in a position someday to help my mom and sister out financially who take care of my other sister that is mentally handicapped and cannot be left alone. I have to give my younger sister props for sacrificing education at the moment to work at home taking care of my other sister while my mom works. It is hard to find someone responsible and reliable to be there everyday to watch my handicapped sister. I hope to someday have a job that pays very well so that I can afford to pay someone around 30K a year to be a full time caretaker for my sister to help my mom and other sister out.
Again if I can get help from someone I may try and get grants and scholarships to get my RN and move into the health profession or I think it would be neat to work on an Aerospace degree if I could get enough scholarships and grants to do so. I’m 31 but what the heck right? I can verify everything I have stated. I’m not looking for any help beyond my loan debt. I included my email link at the bottom of the page if anyone would like to contact me. I’m just looking for an opportunity or a way to pay this off. Thank you for reading this entire letter.
Jason
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