One of the most important topics regarding flight training (at least from the organizational standpoint) at the same time sadly enough is one of the least talked about ones is the Financing of the Pilot training.

Before you start your training you should have some kind of a plan about how you are going to solve the problem that aviation training is quite expensive. In some schools you pay "as you go" so you basically always have to have the money for the thing you do at the moment. In other schools though, you have to pay a fixed price (or a part of it) in advance.

There are of course a couple of different ways, how you could get the money for your training:

The nicest one I suppose is to have be independently wealthy or have family members pay for the training. You don't really need to worry about anything, you just go and get your training. Although I've met some people where it worked like that this is not really the common thing happening.

Another way is to work a non-flying job, or even something in the aviation field, say ground crew or fueler, and pursue your training during your off-time, paying as you go with the money earned from the job. This means that ideally there would be no debt resulting from the training. On the other hand this would likely lead to a slower progression through training, as not only do you hav to wait for the paychecks to come in to then pay for flight school bit you are also only able to dedicate yourself to training during your off-time, which may not be plentiful.

Then there's the option where you work a non-flying job for some time, save up the money needed and then start your training.

This is a good way, since you don't sit on a loan after your training and if, by some reason, you should not be able to sustain your lifestyle throuh aviation afterwards (whatever reason there might be for that) you still have a second education and are possibly able to pursue it again.

The downside however is that you might not want to “lose time” (depending on how much money you make in the non-flying job) to gain all that money and therefore delay the flying career. Practical reasons can play a factor in this too, the Medical Requirements get tougher from age 40, for example.

Others, of course, may have worked for some years and never thought of flying but then had a change of heart or epiphany and then realized they needed to do something else and found that “something else" in flying.

So far the most common one in my experience, and the one I used as well, is to get a loan (for a partial or full amount of the cost) and then do your training with that money. There had been a loan system especially for aviation students in Germany although when I inquired about it it was not available anymore. Most loan systems are made for fixed wing pilots who train with an airline, which then has a contract with a bank. The benefit of this is. that you are able to complete the training rather quickly as you can focus 100% on the training.

Obtaining loans for flight training used to be more difficult in the past as flight training was not necessarily recognized as advanced education. In the past years it has gotten easier to obtain financing as many flight schools have partnered with colleges and universities to create aviation degrees which then include flight training and the obtainment of aviation ratings and certificates. The loan is then mostly a regular student loan as you would be attending either college or university for the education.

Another way to get flight training for free and even get paid for it is to join the military and aspire to the aviation branches to get trained there. The downside of course is that being deployed may not be for everyone and the flight time gained compared to the time invested may not be nearly as plentiful as in a civilian aviation employment. The benefit is, however, that all flight time will be turbine time with most of it being twin-turbine.

Speaking of military, former members of armed forces, also if you had nothing to do with aviation in the military there are ways to get your flight training paid for by the Department of Defense of the Country you were serving for. I know for sure that this is possible with the US and the German military, you'd have to inquire with other countries' military if that is also possible. In the US this is done using funds from the G.I. bill which funds education for former members of the U.S. military.

Also you should definitely ask your soon-to-be school, if they have any special deals with credit institutes.