Richmond454

In addition, Crunch Liberty university is one of the schools I talked to. From my contact with them I didn't get a really good feeling about them. Their fees are a lot higher than other schools and there are a lot of other fees that cheaper community colleges don't assess their student. I quickly crossed them off my list when I was doing my research.

Weatherman. You mind if I send you a private message. I would be interested in your experience when you attend school. You did what I plan on doing and it would be nice to see how your experience went.

Thanks

Crunch

Indeed, my research was private colleges as I am currently living overseas and have been so for well over a decade. All the private colleges seemed to really rip off the VA and students, with the exception of maybe ERU, but they are pretty expensive regardless.

Glad you did the research and found something that works for you and your family. Wish you all the best.

I will PM you as I am interested in both the State College options you found as well as possibly the Regional offer for paid training.

Regards,
Mike aka Crunch

TheWeatherman

No problem, send me a PM any time.

caylejqx

If I may ask...what school did you choose to go to? I too will be going to a school with the 2 year degree program. I totally feel your pain though about choosing a school. It has been a few years worth of shopping around for me to finally figure out where I wanted to go. Good luck!

Richmond454

I actually haven't picked a final school yet. However I've narrowed it down to one of three schools.

Central Oregon Community College in Bend Oregon,
Texas State Technical Community College - Waco Texas
Sinclair Community College - Dayton Ohio

These three schools have been the most responsive and have provided the best information about their program. All three also have a large amount of Veterans using the GI Bill to pay for their flight training so it makes me feel comfortable that there won't be a hiccup about what the VA will or will not pay for.

What schools have you been looking at?

If anyone has any experience with any of the three schools feel free to share.

Thanks

caylejqx

I went to Bend this Summer for a visit of LEA and to talk with the aviation rep with COCC. Now be mindful this is what I gained from it so don't use my review as a basis on your decision as we are all different but I do want to share with you what I saw and gained from the visit. Overall we loved the area when we got there. It has that hometown feeling yet its big enough to do things. BE MINDFUL it is stupid pricey to live there! I talked to several people that made good money that still felt they were struggling to live comfy...ok now for what my visit was like...When I got to LEA...I was met by Galit Miller there admissions rep and there aren't enough good things to say about her. She is like you said...spot on with getting back to you in regards to any questions you may have and thats one reason I liked LEA! Overall I did see how they are a successful program bc what they have going and their location is good for training due to being at a higher altitude etc etc.
Now here comes the part that was harder for me to hear and see. After my great visit with the flight school itself and getting all pumped up about attending I went to COCC and had set up a meeting with their aviation rep there. Don't quote me on the name but I want to say his name was Karl Baldessari, a former coast guard helo pilot with lots of HELO experience. All was good until I said I wanted to train fixed wing and then his demeanor changed dramatically. And then every answer after each question I asked was totally half-a**ed and basically it was a meeting where he told me I belonged to COCC and that LEA didn't matter. Getting a job prospect as a CFI at the school was more than likely a long shot after graduation which I get if its full at the time. I was pretty much told I was not going to pass the program due to the fact that I have a family. And that there is no guarantee I would be able to get into COCC due to an 80% rule which I would be told about at last minute after moving to the area… so basically they have a rule that says they accept you into the program and then based on the first come first serve rule…they kick you out if you happen to be outside of the 80% of apps that were put in for that year. Might be something to look into more of. It just seemed as if this guy was totally against fixed wing aircraft and he made it very clear to me that LEA started out as a Helo school and continues to strive as such...Thats fine and dandy but if they wanted to maintain that status then they need to not advertise such a great fixed wing program. I really had my heart set on them due to the great responses I had been getting from LEA up until I started talking with the school and had to call them multiple times to get any info from them. I just didn't feel good after that meeting and seeing how things operated at COCC and for sure didn't need some retired coasty helo pilot telling me I was basically going to flounder once I came over. SOOO...like I said...this was my experience...I hate to make bad reviews bc I know LEA is great but also look into the depths of the college themselves bc thats where your going to spend more time is at the school in class than in the cockpit.
As you know we all have yay's or nay's about some schools. I have literally scraped the barrel clean with shopping for schools and learning what each one is about. Im picky and wanted to stay in the PNW so that’s what I limited my schools to. I finally decided that after everything I have done and the talking with people and schools this that and the other I am going to go to Hillsboro Aero Academy and go through their program with Portland Community College starting in April. After all the visits I have made to schools these guys were everything that I wanted and needed in regards to my training. They have been great through everything I have asked them for and PCC has been in touch with me non-stop to ensure that things are getting taken care of. I hope this helped you a bit and didn't give you a bad taste about COCC but please do yourself a favor and talk to Karl and see how it goes if you haven't had the chance to go visit or chat with anyone from the college itself...I was highly unmotivated after my visit there so I hope it pans out better for you. Also...just a quick tid bit...after my visit and to this day...I haven't heard anything from that school about what is going on etc etc. it seems to me that if they wanted a student they would stay in touch. But good luck on your venture and please keep chatting or PM me so maybe we can keep each other in the loop as we are both still able to change plans. Happy flying! sorry for such a long read.

kingsnake2

Have you considered Tarrant County College at Alliance Airport (North of Fort Worth)? They have an aviation professional pilot program as well.

Richmond454

Thanks for your note. I've been going through the exact same process as you and been talking to countless schools. I actually did talk to Karl and he was very helpful to me. Answered all my questions and provided a lot of great information. The VA rule you are referring to is the 85-15 rule and Karl did explain it to me. He said that they haven't had issues with it lately for fix wing side lately but wanted to make me aware of it. He said if I registered early enough I should not have a problem.

The problem I'm having now is finding housing in the bend area. BAH is 1300 and it seems like housing starts at around 1,000 a month. Luckily I'll be attending with a friend from the army so we share a house or apartment.

I also talked to PCC and had a good impression of them as well. It was between them and COCC but I decided in the end to attend COCC. I like the small town feel vs the bigger city of Portland. My friend who's also a helicopter pilot had a great visit with Karl. Maybe we had a better visit with Karl due to the fact that we are helicopter pilots with a lot of experience. I told him my goal was to finish all my ratings in a year so I can jump straight to the regionals. He said as long as I dedicate myself he says I can do it.

I'll be registering for class in December and class starts January. I'm getting excited to go back to school.

Let's keep in touch since we will be going to school within 3 hours of each other.




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Richmond454

No. their name didn't come up when I was researching. I wish it had since I wouldn't mind going to school in texas. Seems like good weather for year round flying


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JamesNoBrakes

If being beat to hell in the miserable summer heat and turbulence qualifies as "good weather"....