Flight schools today face a financial bottleneck. Training costs continue to rise. Responsible lending options remain limited. And until now, no system has existed to give schools, students, and lenders shared visibility into how flight training actually progresses.
That’s why Flight Schedule Pro® and Sallie Mae® are partnering to offer students responsible financing options as they track their training milestones on their path to becoming pilots.
On May 19, Flight Schedule Pro officially launched a new student financing integration powered by Sallie Mae® that brings trusted private student loans to flight schools in all 50 states. For the first time, approved schools will be able to offer Sallie Mae® Smart Option Student Loans® within Flight Schedule Pro, creating a financing experience that mirrors what students expect from traditional higher education.
But this isn’t just about adding a loan application link. It’s about introducing a new model for student financing—one that’s built on student progress data.
Students will be able to track their loan disbursements from within the same system they already use to schedule flights, monitor milestones, and track training progress.
For schools, the integration supports better management of operations, instructor coaching, and alignment of financial visibility with student performance. And for Sallie Mae®, it enables something that was never available in aviation education until now: access to real-time data on student persistence and progression.
This structure supports milestone-based disbursements and provides added clarity for both schools and students.
Historically, private lenders viewed aviation training as too unpredictable to finance at scale. Without verified data on training timelines or completion outcomes, offering a loan often meant absorbing significant risk.
Flight Schedule Pro changes that. With more than 1,400 schools and over 60,000 students training on the platform annually, Flight Schedule Pro provides one of the most widely used systems for managing real-time flight training progress. That means:
As Sallie Mae® SVP Patrick Freeman put it:
“This collaboration brings responsible, career-focused lending and new levels of transparency to flight training at a critical moment for the industry.”
The integration was designed in close collaboration with Part 141 schools and validated by early adopters like High Flight Academy and ATD Flight Systems...
"This is the first solution that truly connects the dots between student training and financing. It’s a whole new level of visibility and control."
— Robert Ferree, CEO, High Flight Academy"Having everything in one place—with a clear view of each student’s financial standing—not only saves time but gives us confidence in the accuracy of our data."
— Keara Neifach, Director of Operations, ATD Flight Systems
This launch is just the beginning. Following the May 20 announcement, Flight Schedule Pro will continue to roll out new functionality and drive broader awareness through:
For schools ready to participate in the first wave of the rollout, visit flightschedulepro.com/marketplace to learn more.
Trusted Lending. Trusted Data.
This integration enables flight schools using Flight Schedule Pro to offer a more connected view of training progress and financing—within the same platform. It’s more than a better experience. It’s the new standard.
*Flight Schedule Pro is a technology company, not a lender. Loans are provided by partnering licensed lenders.