Paying for flight training has been quite the rollercoaster. When it comes down to it, my faith played a big role through out it all. It was the one thing that was consistent in my life, it was my rock. As mentioned in my Aviation Spark blog post, I committed most of my high school career working towards an Air Force ROTC scholarship. I thought I had the rest of my life planned out in front of me. I did not need to apply for other scholarships while in high school because I thought my college tuition was taken care of. After being crushed by the news that I had lost my scholarship after a medical disqualification, I started resenting God. I did not understand how anything good could come from that news. But as cliche as it, I knew I needed to trust that everything happens for a reason.
I took out a student loan the first semester being out of AFROTC. I started working three jobs in an attempt to go loan-free the following semesters. I got a job working for a ground contract for Frontier Airlines, I was a server at a local restaurant, and during the summer I was a supervisor for a local corn detasseling company. I have been with the corn detasseling company for nine years. I started working there when I was thirteen years old. For the following summers, I put every penny in a savings account that I did not touch until I started my private pilot training as a freshman in college. All throughout middle school and high school the other kids I detasseled with would spend their checks immediately after receiving them. You would think that my parents were the ones making me save my paychecks, but they didn't really care what I did with the money. I am so grateful that my thirteen-year old self saved all of that money so that I would have financial support for college many years later.
In the summers, I still work for the corn detasseling company. I have been a supervisor for Glock Detasseling for several years making good money. I am also still working Frontier flights as well as working in the NASA Nebraska Space Grant Office. Last Friday I got hired as a research assistant for a NASA Space Grant project regarding diversity in aviation. These jobs keep me busy but also help me manage the financial burden of college and flight training.
I have been very blessed to receive several in-college scholarships through various organizations. One of those scholarships being the Calvin C. Carrithers Aviation Scholarship, offered by Global Air. This past summer was the first summer that I was not taking classes. I decided to sit down and make a list of scholarships that I was eligible for. By the end of the summer I had applied for about 30 scholarships. A lot of students miss out on scholarship opportunities because they do not put fourth an effort to apply. My biggest suggestion for anyone struggling financially with tuition and flight training is to just take time to apply. You won't receive a scholarship if you don't put yourself out there.