Additional Costs Part 1

A little update on current situation. My batch has be slated to depart for Australia in end-month for six months of flight school. We're now doing the final preparations like applying for student visa, medicals and other paper work.

It gets more exciting as the date gets nearer, but that also mean training will resume after I've been free for more than three months. It will probably take some time for me to regain the momentum. The free time was spent doing some freelance work to earn some money to feed myself, tutoring fellow course mates and keeping the body in shape. Bam, and three months just went by like this.

It has been almost a year since the course started in late October 2012, a journey that takes quite a fair bit of courage to embark on, at least financially. For the benefit of future cadets, I will keep a record of expenses and additional costs so that they can better gauge how much they have to prepare to enroll themselves in a self-funded pilot license course.

The current list so far will includes:-

1. Course Assessment - S$321
This amount varies with different flight schools, so give it an additional $100 just to be safe. This covers the aptitude tests and school interview.

2. Class 1&2 Initial Medical - S$535
You will need to prove that you're able to pass Class 1 medical as it is the requirement of the course.

3. CASA Class 2 Medical - S$204 (depending on exchange rate)
Medical needed by the Australia aviation authority for all pilot students.

4. Exam fees - S$399
This amount is highly variable as it depends on how many times and subjects you fail to pass. S$399 is what I've paid due to my failure in three subjects. A full examination will cost $2064, and this has changed since CAAS has updated the syllabus to JAA, which I heard costs a lot more. I will try to find out what's the updated exam fees.

5. Australia Student Visa - A$535 (S$605 based on 1.13 rate)
Getting a visa to stay in Australia as a student in the flight school.

6. Visa Medical - S$115
To attain the visa to Australia, you will need to go for a body check-up medical.

7. Documents notarization - S$100 (roughly $10 per document)
All personal documents and certificates will need to be notarized for the Australian authorities to view it as genuine and true.

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Above total: S$2279

On top of these, you cannot neglect the daily expenses throughout the course. The zero income situation definitely doesn't help but everyone chose this path with their eyes opened, so the need to plan carefully is very crucial. Take a very conservative amount of S$250 expenditure per month for food, traveling and minimal entertainment, it will add up to roughly 250*11 = S$2750 before I leave for Australia.

Before leaving for Australia, you will usually need to spend some money to buy some stuff for your usage over there. If it's winter season, the amount you spend buying thick clothing will not come cheap. I shall give it a rough estimate of S$500.

Next will be amount needed for yourself to survive in Australia. Housing and transport to&fro school is covered in the course fee, own expenditure will include food, transport and other necessities. A good amount for six months is probably around S$5000, thanks to the weak AUD forex of 1.13 at the moment. You will not be able to get a car, even though cars are way cheaper than Singapore. Set aside an additional A$4000 for the car alone, excluding variables like petrol, parking and maintenance. A good way to beat the cost is to share it with fellow course mates, and the A$4000 can be mostly recovered when you sell it before returning to Singapore, as depreciation is low.

How about the course fee you wonder. It very much depends on your method of financing it. If you're forking out the full cost from your own or whoever's pocket, you don't have much to worry. However if you're getting an education loan from the bank, that is where the scary parts come in. Depending on the bank you approach, interest rates can range from 5-6.5%, and it will start rolling once you start drawing the money to pay your fees. Actually, even before you start drawing funds from the loan, there is already a processing fee which you have to pay to the bank to get the loan done. Standard charge is 2% of approved amount. Let's say you are going for a full loan of S$200,000, 2% of it will be S$4000.

So on top of ALL the money I've stated above, there is still the loan interest to think/plan/worry/cry about. I was very lucky to be able to dig out the initial starting fee from my own pocket which is almost S$25k. If this was drawn from the loan right from the start, you will need to pay S$95/month of interest base on 5% rate. Multiply it with the total number of months of the course; 95*18 = S$1710.

The next course fee installment, before departure to Australia, is close to S$60k, interest(5%) per month is $235. Multiply it with the remaining months of the course; 235*12 = S$2820.

I shall stop here for now since I'm currently at this stage of the course. Upon your return after completion of flight school, there is still a remaining six months for your pockets to endure before you can start applying for a job. I'll leave that part for a later blogpost, the payments do not stop here. Sounds daunting isn't it? It is, unless you have a thick wallet.

Spare Cash needed so far: S$ 19,869 (Add up all the red bold amount above)

This is strictly a rough estimated value, it will fluctuate with variables like loan interest rates, foreign exchange rates, course fee rates, exam failure count etc etc. You must have enough buffer to handle any increment in any of the aspects.

Alright I think I've given you a lot to think about but hopefully not terrible enough to scare you away. It is a far-fetched dream, but not one which is not attainable. Many people save up through years of work to make this possible, it depends on how "desperate" you want this to work out.

Boots to fight the cold and terrain in Aussie

My tools during flight training

Luminous vest is a compulsory wear during flight training

Tutoring fellow course mate

Dreaded Perf A tutoring. Thank god all of them passed.

Protector of my precious eyes. An expensive but essential purchase.