BIG CHANGES IN YAVAPAI’S AVIATION OFFERINGS
The Veterans Administration has cracked down on Yavapai Community College and other institutions that have been offering helicopter and pilot training for veterans. New regulations have been established that will help reduce what the VA considers overreaching by various educational institutions in the nation. Under the new regulations that went into effect August 1, 2016 students can no longer obtain a private pilot’s license essentially free as part of Yavapai College’s aviation program. Rather, all students must complete their private pilot training before they enter Yavapai College’s aviation program.
This regulatory development specifically impacts the Helicopter Operations and Airplane Operations concentrations of the Associate of Applied Science in Aviation Technology (AVT) degree at Yavapai College. The private pilot applicable courses had to be removed from the two flight concentrations.
In addition, if a veteran in the helicopter emphasis wishes to fly anything other than an R-22 (the cheapest helicopter option), they will now be required to pay for it out of their own pocket. VA will no longer be paying for veterans to fly R-44’s or expensive turbine helicopters like the R-66 or Bell 206 Jet Ranger.
These changes have meant a loss of hundreds of thousands of dollar in tuition to the College. Recall the College was charging over $600 per credit for these courses; it has dropped it to $575 per credit for 2016-17.
You can find additional information about the impact of the new VA regulations on the aviation program at Yavapai Community C0llege by clicking here.
These changes were the result, at least in part, of investigations in 2015 into various flight schools and how much they were charging veterans for aviation training. Yavapai College was prominent among those institutions.
See also “U.S. taxpayers stuck with the tab as helicopter flight schools exploit GI Bill loophole,” by clicking here.