Late 30s, going all in on becoming a pilot via VET Student Loan - thoughts? (Australia)
Posted by Puzzleheaded_You_653@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 5 comments
Been self-funding flight training twice a week, got to 20 hours, knocked out my first solo and absolutely loved it. Was studying for theory and about to book it then decided, stuff it, I'm going all in.
The plan: use the VET Student Loan to get CPL, ratings, and instructor rating. Once I'm there, I'm prepared to live out of my campervan, travel the country, and work in remote areas to build hours and experience. See Australia along the way, embrace the lifestyle, and hopefully work my way into the airlines in my late 40s to 50s - medical permitting.
If there's an opportunity to train for my dream job and do it for the rest of my working life, I'm taking it even if that means $150k of debt. But honestly that's not even the main point. I've spent too long in careers where I haven't been truly happy or motivated, and I see plenty of people stuck in the same boat staying put because it's safe, the salary is decent, or they don't want a loan. That genuinely makes me sad. I don't want to be 80 years old looking back and wishing I'd just gone for it.
I know the general consensus is pay as you fly to keep the debt down, and I get why but that takes time, and I don't want to waste any more of it. Why should a student loan be the thing that stops any of us from chasing a career we'd actually love?
Curious to hear from anyone who's used the VET Student Loan for flight training, how did it work in practice? Any hidden gotchas?
HardCorePawn@reddit
Suggest maybe looking at the “Newbies, training and advice” thread in the over on PPRuNe.org
Puzzleheaded_You_653@reddit (OP)
Thanks!
ltcterry@reddit
You are working really hard to convince yourself that you have good idea.
I don't know about Australia, but most people in the US have changed careers multiple times. They get an expensive degree in something they expect to "actually love" but still move on. You're not even a Private Pilot. How do you know you'll love a career as a pilot?
You've glossed over the vagaries of getting a job. I'm an avid reader at PPRUNE and even I know that it's miserable getting a job there. "I'm willing to sleep in the camper van" doesn't change that.
If you can't even come up with the funds to pay for Private then you are probably not a good enough money manager to be borrowing that much money on "a wing and prayer." In the US Army we say "hope is not a course of action," and there's a shit ton of "hope it works out" in your vague not-a-plan.
Puzzleheaded_You_653@reddit (OP)
Appreciate the response, but a few things worth clearing up.
I'm not in the US, and this post was specifically about the VET Student Loan in Australia so a lot of your points don't really apply here. The route I'm looking at is a diploma, not a degree, and the VET loan exists precisely to help people access training/education they couldn't otherwise fund upfront. That's the entire point of a student loan. Using it has absolutely no reflection on how someone manages their own money in fact, choosing to keep your own cash in the bank and use available financing when the repayment path is clear is generally considered pretty decent financial thinking.
As for not knowing if I'll love being a pilot, fair point, but that works both ways. You can say that about any career change ever made by anyone. The alternative is staying in a career you already know you don't love. I know which I'd pick.
I also mentioned I've already been self-funding training (up to 20hrs) so I have been paying as I go. I just decided I don't want to do it that way anymore.
Respect for your service, genuinely. But 'hope is not a course of action', agreed, which is why I'm on here asking people who've actually done it. A defined qualification pathway, a plan to build hours, and a realistic repayment timeline is not hope.
Hopefully someone with actual experience of the VET loan route in Australia can chime in, that's really what I was after.
(In the British Army we say "improvise, adapt, overcome" or "fuck it and find out". When you've operated in places where no plan survived first contact, you learn that waiting for certainty is just another way of never doing anything).
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Been self-funding flight training twice a week, got to 20 hours, knocked out my first solo and absolutely loved it. Was studying for theory and about to book it then decided, stuff it, I'm going all in.
The plan: use the VET Student Loan to get CPL, ratings, and instructor rating. Once I'm there, I'm prepared to live out of my campervan, travel the country, and work in remote areas to build hours and experience. See Australia along the way, embrace the lifestyle, and hopefully work my way into the airlines in my late 40s to 50s - medical permitting.
If there's an opportunity to train for my dream job and do it for the rest of my working life, I'm taking it even if that means $150k of debt. But honestly that's not even the main point. I've spent too long in careers where I haven't been truly happy or motivated, and I see plenty of people stuck in the same boat staying put because it's safe, the salary is decent, or they don't want a loan. That genuinely makes me sad. I don't want to be 80 years old looking back and wishing I'd just gone for it.
I know the general consensus is pay as you fly to keep the debt down, and I get why but that takes time, and I don't want to waste any more of it. Why should a student loan be the thing that stops any of us from chasing a career we'd actually love?
Curious to hear from anyone who's used the VET Student Loan for flight training, how did it work in practice? Any hidden gotchas?
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