Sorry for the late follow-up…I initially gave my perspective as a military pilot, but wanted to add some insight to the civilian approach that I gathered from many of my coworkers. Which, in my opinion, is a much harder road…Most (if not all) major airlines require a four year degree, but a degree in aviation is very limiting. Especially when you consider the cyclical nature of the industry which can pretty much be summed up as “hire until you fire.” Many of my friends have been down this road…So I would consider going to the cheapest school you can afford and getting a degree in something other than aviation. After that you can enroll in an accelerated program to get your pilot ratings. For example “All ATP” (with schools nationwide) has a program that will get you all the way to your Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) rating which is the required ticket to get considered for a job with the majors. However, it will cost you $60,000 to get it, and there are NO guarantees. First, you have to be able to get and maintain a FAA Ist Class medical. Really not that demanding (no where near as demanding as a military physical), but you still must pass. Secondly, you have to gain experience. What All ATP offers is a chance to be a flight instructor for them, earing peanuts to build time to eventually get your multi-engine ticket. After you have achieved 1,500 hours you can get your ATP, however, no major carrier will hire you with the minimum. So you will have to go work for a commuter (think Delta Express or United Express) for a little more than peanuts ($30,000) as a copilot first and hopefully build enough hours to upgrade to Captain quickly. Because what airlines really want is multi-engine pilot in command (PIC) time; and the more the better…So, how long does it take to get there? It depends, but I would guess at a minimum five (probably more) after graduating from college. And hopefully the airlines are still hiring then, because as I said in the beginning, this industry is very cyclical. In addition to all of the above, the advances in drone technology will eventually give way to unmanned airplanes (yikes!) To be perfectly honest, I would not encourage my kid to be a pilot unless he truly loved flying…YMMV