Hey turpintyine........
Look at it this way, I'm 26,
I feel that even if it takes me until I'm 30 to get to a regional, that is still a 30 year flying career. That's longer than you and I have lived!
Consider stillaboo's advice about the four-year degree if the major's are what you are after.
Then you can decide which path is better for you.
Or as bobbysamd suggested, get it all in one place. That is, go to a college that offers flight training and a degree.
I did it all at a school near my home, and after 7 months, 250hours and $21,000 later, I was comm. multi-instrument rated.
However, it was not as structured as they say the academies are. So I structured it myself by setting up a plan to complete the course in as little time as possible. Scheduling aircraft ahead of time, same hours, 6 to 7 days a week in advance. I was also booking my instructor the same way.
At the end of a lesson, I would ask what we were going to do the next day.(Example) If it was going over stalls, I would look-up what the completion standards were, and learn the proper way to configure the airplane, stall-it, then recover. I forced myself to do it the same way over and over until it was like walking.
You are probably wondering why all this, doesn't everybody do the same thing when they learn to fly? NOPE!
When you decide to study at an FBO, it is way more laid-back.
Many students would show up like, "O.K, what are we going to do today?" Spending time and $$$ just for preparation.
At an academy, you are (from what I hear) pretty much doing things a standard way. Things are EXPECTED from you at certain levels of your training. Some academies won't let you advance to the next lesson until you master the previous one.
Not the case at your typical FBO. You have to be realistic and responsible for your own learning sometimes.
It's cheaper at an FBO, that is why I went there. But I would have gone to an academy back then if I had the money,. Now, I’m glad I didn’t. Yeah the connections to the airlines at some of the academies are attractive, but the chief pilot at my local school is also well connected to his school and offered me an instructor opportunity if I ever wanted it.
So you have some time to think about it, and hopefully you’ll get a lot of responses to help you make a decision. Good luck!