PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · San Marcos, TX · Checked September 8, 2026

What flight training at Texas State Aviation costs

Website tsaviation.com

Phone (512) 396-2212

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Two-seat, the lowest-cost line.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Texas State Aviation

$15,795

range $13.6K – $18K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Texas State's published rates: Diamond DA20-C1 at $130/hr + $70/hr instruction, checked September 8, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$9,815
at the hours students actually take$15,795

+$5,980 on Texas State's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$13.6K – $18K
Aircraft rental$9,360
Instruction$4,060
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$13,420
72 hrs in Diamond DA20-C1 @ $130/hr + 58 dual @ $70/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 Texas State Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Texas State 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 Texas State publishes

checked September 8, 2026
Cessna 172L (VFR, Aero 500 GPS)The primary trainer. VFR, so the instrument legs default to the IFR aircraft beside it.$145/hr wet
Cessna 172P (IFR, Garmin GNC 300XL)IFR-equipped.$150/hr wet
Cessna 172R-180 (IFR, Garmin 430)180hp, IFR.$157/hr wet
Diamond DA20-C1 (KLN 35A GPS)Two-seat, the lowest-cost line.$130/hr wet
Bellanca Citabria 7GCAA (160hp)Tailwheel, needs a tailwheel endorsement.$160/hr wet
Micco SP-26A (dual only)Sport/aerobatic, instruction only.$250/hr wet
Instruction$70/hr

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.

See the published rates →

Section 3Paying for it

Two ways to cover $15,795.

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 for51 open to anyone. Top awards reach $22,200.No Texas-only awards in the directory yet.
51
Money you pay backLenders that cover $15,795All 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 4Add to my plan

Turn this into a plan.

Your $15,795 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 5In the app

Track it against Texas State's rates.

Texas State Aviation's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose Texas State when you set up and the app prices your training at its rates, then tracks every flight you log against the projection.

Download on the App Store

Section 6What to ask

What to ask when you call

What turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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 Texas State Aviation?
Texas State Aviation publishes $130 per hour for the Diamond DA20-C1 and $70 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 8, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $15,795, in a range of $13,600 to $18,000. 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 Texas State Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Texas State Aviation?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Texas State 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 Texas State Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
Texas State Aviation trains under Part 61, the flexible path. There is no FAA-approved syllabus to follow, so lessons can be scheduled around your life and adapted to your pace. The tradeoff is a slightly higher paper minimum for the private certificate (40 hours versus 35) and, for most students, no VA benefit eligibility.
Do Texas State Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?
Texas State Aviation publishes $130 per hour for the Diamond DA20-C1, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure. A wet rate is the easier one to compare, because the number you see is the number you fly on. Rates checked September 8, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Texas State Aviation?
Texas State Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor. Instruction is $70 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Texas State Aviation's own published rates.

Section 8Sources

Estimates use Texas State Aviation's published Diamond DA20-C1 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 Texas State 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 Texas State? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

4 other schools fly from San Marcos Regional Airport.

1 of them publishes at least one rate. HYI is the identifier to give when you ask.

Every school in the state

Other Texas flight schools

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