Alaska Resident Loan
The Alaska Resident Loan is also known as the Alaska Supplemental Education Loan (ASEL) or the Alaska Family Education Loan (FEL) is a flight training loan available to Alaskan residents who are undertaking pilot training at an aviation school out of state.
This loan has a limit of $10,000 per year, and an aggregate limit of $56,000. Cadets who take out an Alaska Resident Loan must repay all money borrowed within 10 years of graduating from their flight training program.
New Jersey Class Loan
Similarly, to the Alaska Resident Loan, the New Jersey Class Loan is available to residents of the state of New Jersey who are attending a flight training school out of state.
Applicants for the New Jersey pilot training loans can borrow up to the total cost of their pilot training course. This loan has a repayment term that can range between 10, 15, or 20 years depending on your circumstances.
Vermont Advantages Student Loan
Residents of the state of Vermont can also apply for a dedicated student flight school loan. The Vermont Advantages Student Loan allows cadets to borrow up to the total cost of their chosen flight training course.
Repayment of this aviation loan begins 45 days from the graduation of your aviation course and has a repayment term critical link of 15 years.
American Airlines Credit Education Loan
If you are a member of the American Airlines Credit Union, you could be eligible for a student loan for flight school of up to $40,000. This loan requires repayment as soon as the funds have been sent and requires a repayment term of up to 10 years.
AOPA Aviation Finance Company
The AOPA Aviation Finance company offers a flight school loan, the AOPA Flex Finance Loan, which allows cadets to borrow up to $100,000 towards the cost of the flight training course. As with the American Airlines Credit loan, repayments begin as soon as funds are disbursed, and there is a maximum repayment period of 7 years.
International students can also apply for this aviation loan if they can show 2 years of USA tax history. Alternatively, if students cannot show this, they can still apply for this student flight school loan with a cosigner who can prove 2 years of USA tax history.
We Florida Financial (WeFly)
The state of Florida also offers aviation loans to its residents. Florida residents or members with the AOPA could be eligible to borrow up to $30,000 for aviation courses. For this loan, the repayment term is 6 years.
The Florida Educational Dollars for Duty (EDD) program is available for Florida National Guard Soldiers and Airmen and can support public tuition for the period of the Guard member’s service. This type of flight school funding is an alternative method of funding a flight training course.
If you meet the eligibility requirements, EDD can be used for courses that lead toward a Technical Certification, Associates, Bachelors, or Master’s Degree. The EDD can only be used towards approved courses with L3Harris.
Repaying your flight school loans
As all types of pilot training loans (apart from grants such as the Federal Pell Grant) need to be repaid, it is important to ensure that you have a plan in place and the means to repay the loan within the repayment window. Each type of loan will have a different repayment window, so be sure to look at this carefully, along with the interest rate.
To ensure that you can stick to the repayment conditions of your loan, never borrow more than is necessary for the cost of your training program.