Hiya Jason!
Welcome to the forums! Actually... I see that you joined back in November of last year... so... Thanks for posting for the first time!
I completely agree that finishing college is a good... nay... great idea!
So, kudos for sticking with it. Most major airlines prefer degree's so that will be one less obstacle you will have down the road.
As to your questions... Here goes:
1. Yes... it should take 5 months to complete the PPL and ACPP programs. Typically, believe it or not... the PPL program only takes about a month to 6 weeks and the rest of the time is spend on the PIC cross country time building, as well as preparing for the the ACPP.
2. Rates for instructors vary by location and flight school. At this time... I believe ATP pays instructors a salary of $2000/month plus bonuses for various things along the way. So the absolute minimum you would make is $24,000/year. However, many flight schools only pay by the flight hour or by the "instruction" hour... not salary. So... based on that you have the potential of making very little money if you don't have many students (since if you are not flying, you are not getting paid)... or a lot of money if you have lots of students who fly frequently.
I've seen FBO's pay as little as $8-$10/hour and I've seen them pay upwords of $25-$35/hour. In other words... you may have to research it a bit to find a decent paying flight school.
3. Hours per month also varies by how many students you have. When I instructed at ATP I was averaging about 80 hours a month. I think my lowest month was @ 56 hours and my highest was well over 100. However I've had some buddies at FBO's who only averaged around 20 hours a month too. Remember... if you are only paid by the flight hour... then that can be a very small paycheck. But if you find a busy FBO, or if you can find a good cache of student clientele, then you can earn much more... especially if you hit the 80-100+ range.
4. I'm not familiar with your area of the country when it comes to flight instructors... but it's like anything else in this great country of ours... it all boils down to supply and demand. Since a great many pilots instruct to gain the requisite hour requirements to get hired at regionals, corporate, fractionals, 135 cargo, etc... then it stands to reason that as long as there is hiring going on at those companies... then there will be a need for instructors.
That said, at this specific moment in time... hiring has slowed at the regionals and majors since the economic impact of oil prices has caused a major downturn in the industry. The airline industry however... is cyclical. It will rebound and hiring will continue again. It always happens. Mostly because there is a mandatory retirement age for airline pilots. That means... every year, hundreds if not thousands of pilots retire... causing openings in those airlines. Combine that, with a spurt of economic growth and BAM! we have another hiring boom.
I've always contended that one of the best times to train for this job is during a downturn in the industry since that means you will be cocked and ready to be hired when the industry changes... yet again.
5. This goes back to the "supply and demand" argument. The short answer though... is Yes. If they have enough pilots to cover their needs for now, then typically minimums do increase. When the economy turns, the airline grows, and they've had tons of folks retire... then typically minimums go back down so that they can get a lot of candidates as fast as possible.
6. Yes... at least from the day the airline says you are "officall". That typically comes after you have successfully completed all aspects of their training program. So that could be up to two months after your initial class date.
Jumpseating is one of the many "perks" of this job. I live in DFW and I jumpseat on UPS to get to work in LA/Ontario. At this time... I don't want to relocate my family for this job. So, it's nice that I can live anywhere I want... as long as I'm willing to put up with the commute.
It's been said... that the best part about this job is being able to live anywere you want and knowing that you have the ability to "commute" to work. However... it's also been said that one of the worst things about this job... is the "commute" itself.
Many pilots could tell you some amazing "commuting" horror stories... It's a choice many of us live with, and we accept and ultimately try to plan for all the things that could go wrong during a commute. I typically have a Plan A, B, C, and D. Well... at least an A and B...
Hope that helps!
Bob