Liberty University Affiliate Flight Program

Hello everyone, first time posting here and wanted to get some feedback on my plan from experienced pilots on the pros and cons.

Little background on myself… US Army veteran with no flight experience. I’m 35, married with 4 teenagers. I graduated from Liberty University with a Bachelor’s and received an Associate’s as well. My current job is a high school gym teacher, while the job isn’t horrible, I’ve always wanted to be a pilot, but never thought it would possible or I was smart enough.

Over the last couple of years I’ve been doing research and trying to find ways to get my certifications and ratings paid for. A year ago I tried to take out a loan for ATP and was denied (thank goodness). I put being a pilot in the back of my mind because I couldn’t afford 100k give or take. After a year I came across a program at Liberty where I do classes online and fly at my local flight school. Going into the online program, I had several credits being transferred leaving me with only needing to take Aviation courses and fly to get my degree.

From my understanding the VA will fund all my training (instrument, commercial, CFI, CFII, multi-engine, etc) besides the PPL portion which cost 11k a semester for 2 semesters. If I finish PPL ahead of schedule, that money will be refunded.

I received my class 1 medical last month and on schedule to start classes and flying next month. I started Pilot Institute ground school a few months ago hoping to gain some knowledge and complete my written shortly after classes start. My current timeline through the program looks like I would be finish with everything by next summer 2026.

My goal is to make it a major or regional airline by the time I’m 40. I’m not super worried about the money I’ll be making, I’ve told myself as long as I make at least what I make now I’ll be happy. Does this plan sound decent? I’ve heard bad things about Liberty but “This is the way”. Any insight, thoughts, trolling welcomed.

Also, I recently purchased some Lightspeed Zula 3’s for $500 that were supposed to be used but still had the plastic seals and are basically brand new. I wanted Bose but couldn’t pass up the offer, how do these compare to the A20s or 30s.