PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · St. Cloud, MN · Checked September 8, 2026

What flight training at St. Cloud Aviation costs

Website stcloudaviation.com

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Two-seat primary trainer.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at St. Cloud Aviation

$13,627

range $11.7K – $15.5K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on St. Cloud's published rates: Cessna 152 at $116/hr + $50/hr instruction, checked September 8, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$8,615
at the hours students actually take$13,627

+$5,012 on St. Cloud's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$11.7K – $15.5K
Aircraft rental$8,352
Instruction$2,900
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$11,252
72 hrs in Cessna 152 @ $116/hr + 58 dual @ $50/hr

One-time fees ($2,375)

  • Knowledge (written) test$175
  • Checkride / DPE fee$800
  • Medical certificate$150
  • Headset$700
  • Ground school / test prep$300
  • Books, charts & supplies$250
Hours at a steady pace72 hrs

Examiner records (DPE dataset).

The hourly flying is priced on St. Cloud Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not St. Cloud Aviation's prices, and several are set by third parties.

Estimates use PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists and FAA minimums where it does not, applied to each school's published rates. They are PilotBound estimates, not the school's quote, and will differ from a school's own figures. Full methodology and sources →

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Section 2The rate card

What St. Cloud publishes

checked September 8, 2026
Cessna 152 (N94714)1983Two-seat primary trainer.$116/hr fuel basis not stated
Cessna 172 (N418ES)1998The standard four-seat trainer.$173/hr fuel basis not stated
Cessna 182RG (N7557X)1977Retractable/complex, for the commercial's complex hours.$233/hr fuel basis not stated
Beechcraft BE-76 Duchess (N6638H)1979Multi-engine trainer.$326/hr fuel basis not stated
Instruction$50/hr

Airframes built 1977 to 1998. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.

St. Cloud Aviation does not say whether its published rates include fuel. This estimate uses the rate exactly as published, so ask before you budget: a dry rate adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour once fuel is on top.

The examiner's checkride fee is not on this card: the examiner sets it, not the school. The estimate above includes PilotBound's own figure for it. St. Cloud's site does not state whether its rates include fuel. St. Cloud does not state whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.

See the published rates →

Section 3Discovery flight

$120

Checked September 14, 2026

About 30 minutes in a Cessna 152, plus tax. $160 in a Cessna 172.

Book on their site

Discovery flight prices in Minnesota

Section 4Paying for it

Two ways to cover $13,627.

Win what you can first, then borrow only what is left. Neither figure assumes anything about you: one is what our scholarship directory holds, the other is what the lenders publish.

Money you keepScholarships you could apply for46 open to anyone, plus 2 in Minnesota. Top awards reach $22,200.
48
Money you pay backLenders that cover $13,627All six lenders in our comparison lend this much. That is whether a loan this size is on offer, not whether you would be approved.
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Section 5Add to my plan

Turn this into a plan.

Your $13,627 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.

Add to my plan

Section 6What to ask

What to ask when you call

The marked ones are what St. Cloud's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?Missing from their site

    The site does not say, and it is the difference between two rates that look identical and are not.

  2. Does the instructor rate change for the Instrument, Commercial, or CFI, or is it flat across everything?

    Plenty of schools charge more for advanced instruction. A flat rate quoted for the Private can climb later.

  3. Do you train under Part 61 or Part 141?Missing from their site

    It changes the minimum hours, and for some students it changes financing eligibility.

  4. Do you offer block rates or prepay discounts, and what is the refund policy if I stop partway?

    Block discounts are common and rarely published. The refund terms matter more than the discount.

  5. What do you charge for the written test, the checkride, and the examiner's fee?

    The DPE fee alone runs $800 to $1,200 in most of the country and is almost never in a quoted hourly rate.

  6. How many trainers and how many full-time instructors do you have right now?

    Availability decides your pace, and pace decides your total more than the hourly rate does.

Section 7Questions

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at St. Cloud Aviation?
St. Cloud Aviation publishes $116 per hour for the Cessna 152 and $50 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 8, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $13,627, in a range of $11,700 to $15,500. That covers roughly 72 hours of flying and instruction plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out, including the written test, the examiner's checkride fee, a medical, and study materials. It is a PilotBound estimate built on the school's published rates, not a quote from St. Cloud Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at St. Cloud Aviation?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at St. Cloud Aviation to reach the private pilot checkride, at roughly 72 hours. Pace is the single biggest variable: flying once a week typically stretches the timeline and raises the total, because time between lessons gets spent re-learning. Weather, aircraft availability, and instructor turnover all push the same direction.
Is St. Cloud Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
St. Cloud Aviation does not state on its own website whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so we do not list one. It is worth asking directly before you enroll: Part 141 follows an FAA-approved syllabus and is generally what VA benefits require, while Part 61 is more flexible on scheduling.
Do St. Cloud Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?
St. Cloud Aviation publishes $116 per hour for the Cessna 152, a rate that does not say whether fuel is included. Ask before you budget: if the rate turns out to be dry, fuel adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour on top. PilotBound's estimate uses the rate exactly as published. Rates checked September 8, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at St. Cloud Aviation?
St. Cloud Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Multi-Engine (AMEL). Instruction is $50 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on St. Cloud Aviation's own published rates.

Section 8Sources

Estimates use St. Cloud Aviation's published Cessna 152 and instructor rates (checked September 8, 2026), shown in USD for planning only. Real cost varies by student, weather, and pace. A range, not a quote.

PilotBound is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by St. Cloud Aviation. School names are used only to identify the school. Estimates use PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists and FAA minimums where it does not, applied to each school's published rates. They are PilotBound estimates, not the school's quote, and will differ from a school's own figures. Disclaimer & removal policy.

Are you St. Cloud? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

Send your fuel basisSend your training part

One other school flies from Saint Cloud Regional Airport.

It does not publish a rate either, so that one is a phone call too. STC is the identifier to give when you ask.

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