I’m currently in the Air Force and plan on going to atp in Little Rock after I palace chase out and work guard one weekend every month. So full time ATP with guard on the side. This will take place in about what I see to be 1.5 years. Has anyone used any G.I. Bill benefits to fund ATP? Is it the best route for me as a service member to take out a huge loan or just go to traditional college after the military?
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Jimmy,
No one has used their VA benefits for ATP because you can’t (other than about $10k for checkride fees). The problem is the VA will only allow a certain for training each year and since ATPs accelerated program has you complete all your training in under a year. Sure you could use your bennies for a university program, but now you’re looking at 4yrs before you even start building time vs ATPs 2 to complete your training AND time building.
While I understand your desire to not borrow the money and use your benefits, since airline pilots have a finite amount of years they can fly, you’d be forfeiting many times more money than the program would cost.
Adam
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Jimmy,
I’m active duty and about to retire - I start ATP in July. Unfortunately, ATP isn’t the type of school where you can use your GI Bill benefits, except for some checkride fees as Adam mentioned. There are other options but I took out a loan as I believe this to be the best option for me and my family. I would recommend hopping on Facebook and looking for RTAG Nation. It was started by mainly helicopter pilots looking to convert their helicopter hours into getting commercial pilot gigs. They have a bunch of GI Bill information and schools that accept the GI Bill and they also offer scholarships for current/prior military looking to get into commercial airlines. They will probably be your best bet to find more information on GI Bill or VA disability money available and the best ways to put them to work for you.
But as I said, I’ve looked into those, and for me, ATP is the route I’m going.
Best of luck!
-Steve
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