I signed a tuition reimbursement contact through my flight school in 2019 which was for a lump sump payment upon completion of IOE.

Long story short, I fulfilled all the terms of the original contact on my end, the original contact that I signed was lost (i still have a copy), and before SkyWest would pay out the money, they redrafted a new contract and stuck a two year time commitment in there. I signed this contact, left the company before two years was up and now am being asked to repay the money.

Was wondering if anyone else on here had the same experience. Obviously I feel cheated, the fight school was negligent in their record keeping, and Skywest decided to screw a bunch of people over by changing the terms of the contract for those who wanted the money.

Is there any way to get out of repayment? I am waiting to hear back from a lawyer to see if the new contract is enforceable or not.

Appreciate any advice you can provide.

How much money was it and is it prorated?

$17,500. Not Pro-rated.

If you signed a legal contract, even if it's an amendment, it's probably unlikely to get out of it.

Actually, not a bad price for learning to read what you sign.

So rather than argue the original contract via a lawyer you signed a new document that changed the terms? Did they lock you in a room in SGU, starve you for days, and hold a gun to your head? If no then Excargodog is correct, you spent 17,500 one dollar bills to learn that if you sign a contract you are beholden to it. Now you could double down and spend another 17,500 one dollar bills fighting in court. If you win you are still out 17,500 one dollar bills. Life is hard, it’s harder when you are stupid. I’ve been stupid in life to the tune of about 12,000 one dollar bills over the last 30 years. You won’t be the first or the last, just the next one in line.

I see your point, however when they sent me the contract to sign, they included this message:

“While SkyWest will continue to honor the original agreement and you have or will be paid the Tuition Reimbursement as planned, all parties would like to have a signed agreement and record in place.”

Still waiting to hear back from a lawyer, but I certainly have learned my lesson when signing any future contracts…

Finessed….

I see why you signed, they said they would be the good guy and honor the original contract. Then why didn’t they just resign the original? You had a copy. Instead they came up with a new contract that put new terms on it that were beneficial to them in this current market. Typically a new contract will supersede the old one unless it can be shown there was bad faith or malfeasance.

I guess since you signed a new contract with a two year clause then left early you should just pay back the reimbursement and go about your merry way, majority of airline pilots never seen a flight school reimbursement anyway so your in good company.