Should I join the Air Force to pay for pilot training in collage?

Air Force pilot here. Having the Air Force pay for your college and Undergraduate Pilot Training are two separate things. To become a pilot in the Air Force you must first become an officer which will require a degree. There are a few ways to do this: 1) You enlist (you will not be a pilot during your enlistment) and the Air Force will pay for your degree after your enlistment is complete. If you take this route you will have to get your degree and also go through one of the three Officer Commissioning courses which include OTS (a course you attend in Alabama the summer after you graduate college), ROTC (a course you go through while simultaneously going to college), or attend the Air Force Academy. Once you receive your commission through one of those courses and if you are competitive enough (and it is quite competitive) then you go to UPT to learn to fly. 2) you go straight to college through either the Air Force academy or ROTC on a full ride scholarship but you have to apply to these scholarship programs and they can be competitive. 3) You find a way to pay for your own college but still go through ROTC or OTS before getting selected for flight school. One important thing that needs to be understood: there are both active duty pilots as well as Guard/Reserve pilots. Active duty pilots sign a contract to serve 10 years of active duty military service. When you sign that contract, your full time job will be acting as an Air Force officer. The positives of active duty is a guaranteed job that pays fairly well while you gain hours and experience in your aircraft and after active duty you are free to transition over to civilian/commercial aviation. The downside of active duty is you don’t have much control over your life and being an active duty officer comes with A LOT of extra job duties that have nothing to do with flying which can be frustrating to many. There are also guard and reserve pilots who are not active duty. The guard/reserve guys go through the same flight school but only work for the Air Force part time. The positive is you have A LOT more personal freedom and can start building seniority working for a civilian company, but the downside is guard guys don’t get the same benefits that active duty guys get (different health insurance, less of a potential retirement pension). If you have any questions feel free to ask. Hope this helps.