CEO DATELINE - Aviation groups seek to prevent funding cuts for flight training
CEO DATELINE - Aviation groups seek to prevent funding cuts for flight training
- May 20, 2015 |
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Walt Williams
Associations say bill unfairly targets training programs
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Seven aviation groups have sent a "strongly worded letter" to Congress asking lawmakers to reject a proposed funding cap for college flight training degree programs for veterans.
At issue is a legal loophole in the 2009 GI Bill that allowed flight schools to charge high fees for training veterans knowing that the Veterans Administration would be required to pay. A 2015 Los Angeles Times investigation found the government often paid $250,000 per person in fees for veterans, twice the amount non-veterans were charged. One flight training company trained 12 veterans at the cost of $500,000 each. http://mil-com.me/1ee1RwK
A House bill would impose a $20,980 a year cap on fees. In their letter, the associations say the bill is discriminatory because it singles out flight training degree programs and imposes no caps on any other course of study at a public college.
"Without personal financial resources, a veteran would be unable to attain an aeronautical college degree with a commercial pilot license under the $20,980 per year cap proposed under H.R. 476," the associations said. "Sufficient student lending for flight training is unavailable. Flight training does not qualify for a federally backed student loan and therefore is treated by most financial institutions as an unsecured loan at interest rates often exceeding 12 percent."
They instead argue the excessive fees charged by some flight school operators would have never been paid had VA enforced its own regulations concerning how funding for schooling is dispersed.
Signatories include Helicopter Association International, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Experimental Aircraft Association, General Aviation Manufacturers Association, National Air Transportation Association. National Association of State Aviation Officials and National Business Aviation Association. http://bit.ly/1dioNe5
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