Current student at ATP
 

Hello,
My name is Yogev. I’m currently a student at atp, and not quite happy with how things are going. I’ve been there for about48 days, and would like to switch to a more teaching school other than just flying. I am located in Chicago, and I financed half of the cost. Any ideas are welcomed.

Yogev

If you financed through ATP I heard it is extremely difficult to get your remaining funds back if you want to quit. Perhaps it would be better at this time to stay and complete your program? You must be half way through right?

Sounds to me like you didn’t do your research prior to attendance. You had to know that you will do majority self study. They ain’t holding no hands homie. Buckle down and finish it...because it’s gonna be extremely hard to get your money back. So your options are to stop crying, hit the books...or fail out. Kinda like life.

Or...maybe English is his second language, and he learns better from guided discussion with Q&A than from reading text.

That said, there are schools out there with "Pilot Academies" like American Flyers, that specialize in foreign students, etc. But not losing the money already invested in ATP is the issue.

Yogev, discuss your concerns with a manager at ATP; they will steer you to staying there of course, but might provide more assistance or more time. If not, look at some of the no-kidding Pilot Academies.

It's actually not difficult at all. Any unused training funds, even those that have been disbursed to ATP, will (and legally must be) returned to you or the lending institution.

How you finance will determine how quickly ATP refunds money. In my case, I financed through Sallie Mae, so all unused training funds were electronically transferred between Sallie Mae and ATP. The time between me informing ATP I wasn't continuing and Sallie Mae showing loan disbursements terminated was about a week. Shortly thereafter, the unused portion of the first installment was also returned to Sallie Mae.

It may be different if, for example, you take out a personal loan and are paying ATP directly from your own financial account. That said, it shouldn't be too much longer to receive your unused funds back.

Before you completely quit, I would look into attending another location if at all possible. Some locations are better than others. I attended the PIE location and thought the instruction was adequate.

...about the only thing that ATP has going for them is that they have banks that will finance their ridiculous overpriced training for you.

If you've only done 48 hours, then you should be about to complete your Private, if you feel that you will fail that check ride, then leave the program, it's better to leave the program than to start your career with a negative mark on your record. If you're confident about passing the check ride, then pass it and leave the program, and then continue your instrument somewhere else.

With all that said, read my first sentence again. Half the battle of becoming a pilot is securing that loan, or somehow paying your way through all the certificates. If you leave this program it might prove difficult to secure another loan since they'll be afraid that you will leave that other program again. This is something to think about, keep in mind that I'm just throwing darts out there, I frankly don't know if it'll make it more difficult, I just assume it would.

Lastly, you say you financed half the loan, does that mean they didn't lend you the full $76,000? If that's the case, then why even bother starting a program that you can't really finish, or perhaps I misunderstood what your wrote.

There's also a ton of resources out there, I'm a voracious reader, and let me tell you, some of those FAA books have a way of putting me to sleep, you just have to plow through them. I'm also not big on paying for ground training because I can read faster than they can teach which saves me $$$. That's why I dislike ATP, you should't pay anything close to 76K for a program that has no ground school, paying somewhere close to 40K is part of the appeal of going to a mom and pop shop that doesn't offer ground school, there are many academies out there that charge something close to what ATP does, difference being that they offer proper ground school. I went a little off topic here, but there are visual ground school courses that you can buy that might help you out if you decide to stick it out with ATP. It's kinda lame that for 76K they hand you a $16 FAA book that you can also get for free online, but hey that's the game they play. One would assume that at the very least they would throw in some of the online courses from Sporty's, King, or Gleim, or any of the other outfits in town. God forbid the tuition increases from 76K to 77K for those extra courses :D

Anyway, if I was in your shoes and had the full loan secured I would just plow through the whole thing and would look at Youtube videos or other online ground schools for extra instruction. I would also ask for a change of instructor if I wasn't jibbing with the one I was handed, perhaps even change location if possible, as someone above suggested. I also wouldn't let those dudes push me onto a check ride that I didn't feel ready for. Granted, we are talking about asking for a few extra days, etc. I understand that they are under a strict time line, which is part of "Fast Track" appeal. Best of luck :cool:

Calling All ATPS is like calling the IRS or a government agency. Please select 1, then 2, etc. then get put on hold. Seriously?

Region Flyers in Valparaiso, IN is fairly close go Chicago (about 1.5 hours away) and is an awesome school. I finished up my PPL with them and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

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there is so many problem with schools.... I am also searching. :D