College CTI Program or Advanced Atc

[jermaine]

Hello I was interested in trying for a ATC program.
I have a few questions

I live in Maryland, the closest college that offers the ATC-CTI program is CCBC Catonsville.
But they force a 2 year degree and a bunch of other classes that seem to be not necessary. Which takes more time.

I was looking into Advanced ATC, which seems to be a ok school. And maybe could get me a job sooner. I know they maybe more expensive though

Has anyone tried Advanced ATC and could recommend them or another non-college atc school.

And is there any real difference between going the College route and going through a Non College route? They end up in the same place right?

Air Force is out of the question...(asthma...even though it was 6 years ago).

thanks for any help

 

[spades9048]

Based on the users on the "other" forum, none of the CTO (Which is what Advanced falls under) applicants reported being picked up through that announcement during the last selection panel. However, there aren't that many who have finished that program, especially when compared with the number of CTI graduates. It will be interesting to see if any get picked up next month.

 

[queeno]

listen nubee if it isnt an approved CTI school the FFA isnt gonna hire you so dont waste your time and money, haveing a CTO with no experiance is the same as any swinging deek OTS with out a CTO.and the rest of you untill the old timers start to retire in large number dont plan on getting picked up soon.

OG

 

[flyeagle111]

Queeno, what's your take on the hiring situation? I've talked with one ZAU controller who thinks that most of the guys will start leaving in 2013.

 

[queeno]

hard to tell havent talked to any of my peeps at ZAU in a few months, but i think the big reason is that anyone that can retire is getting an extra 1% on top of the yearly cola and are trying to make up for the 2006 butt rape we got, and many might just be afraid because of the economy. but i would say anytime after 2013 it may get better or maybe not until 2015 its a crap shoot right now. now if the Fed changes the retirement from a 3 hi to a 5 hi like there was some talk about a few months ago youll see a lot of retirements real fast. ill call some friends in a few days and see whats cooking.

OG

 

[flyeagle111]

Thanks for the info. Supposedly there are a little over a 1,000 CTI kids waiting now. I graduate next May, and if I have to wait five years to get picked up, I will. Hurry up and wait...

 

[Bigey]

hard to tell havent talked to any of my peeps at ZAU in a few months, but i think the big reason is that anyone that can retire is getting an extra 1% on top of the yearly cola and are trying to make up for the 2006 butt rape we got, and many might just be afraid because of the economy. but i would say anytime after 2013 it may get better or maybe not until 2015 its a crap shoot right now. now if the Fed changes the retirement from a 3 hi to a 5 hi like there was some talk about a few months ago youll see a lot of retirements real fast. ill call some friends in a few days and see whats cooking.

OG

What do you mean a 3 hi to a 5 hi?

 

[Bernoulli Fan]

"High three" refers to the part of your retirement package that is a percentage of the average of your three highest-salaried years. I'm not sure how averaging five years would be advantageous, so it must be some other formula for that.

 

[JulietBravo]

Don't mean to continue with the thread hijacking.. ok maybe i do... but I was talking to one of the sups in DEN tower a few weeks ago and he said between now and 2017, 70% of the workforce will retire. It's just a matter of time. I don't think anyone know what the real hiring situation is until the new FAA budget comes out each year. And even after that, no one really knows until it just happens. At least, that's my take on it. I plan to do CTI starting this summer and graduate May of '12. Hopefully I don't have to wait too long, but it'll be worth it.

 

[derg]

Based on the users on the "other" forum, none of the CTO (Which is what Advanced falls under) applicants reported being picked up through that announcement during the last selection panel. However, there aren't that many who have finished that program, especially when compared with the number of CTI graduates. It will be interesting to see if any get picked up next month.

You can say "stuck mic" over here, it's ok. I don't have that strange rule here!

 

[queeno]

"High three" refers to the part of your retirement package that is a percentage of the average of your three highest-salaried years. I'm not sure how averaging five years would be advantageous, so it must be some other formula for that.

its a way to save money, it would reduce your retirement pay by several hundred dollars a month which means any body who can reitre well beat feet.

OG

 

[Bigey]

its a way to save money, it would reduce your retirement pay by several hundred dollars a month which means any body who can reitre well beat feet.

OG

Maybe I'm still not understanding. So their pay gets reduced and then they want to retire?

 

[ATC RET 2003]

They want to retire BEFORE their pay gets reduced. The pension is based on the average of your three highest years' salary. If it becomes based on an average of your five highest years, the two additional years' salaries that get figured in will each most likely be less than the original three, thereby reducing your pension. Better to go under the high three deal.

 

[Bernoulli Fan]

its a way to save money, it would reduce your retirement pay by several hundred dollars a month which means any body who can reitre well beat feet.

OG

Ah, I didn't think about it from the negative perspective. I guess I'm not fully indoctrinated in the FFA yet. ha.

 

[ATC RET 2003]

Well, you got the name right, so you're ahead of the game already.

 

[queeno]

called one of my peeps at ZAU and asked about whats going on, now this is grape vine stuff but here it is,

1) looks like only 6 new hires for ZAU untill october and those are all ready in the system and because of all the budget BS dosent look very good for next year.

2) as for retirement sounds like most are talking about staying untill they are 56 for 2 reasons 1 traffic is way way down from what it was and the old timers are not working very hard, the nubees think they are busy but traffic is still way down and 2 many took big hits on their TSP (401k)and are trying to make some money back. only good news is FFA isnt giving age 56 wavers.

3) there is still talk in the region that ZAU is over staffed and numbers may change from the 440 now to maybe 350 to 375.but this has been talked about for years so any ones guess is as good as mine.

my advise is that if you want in youll have to go CTI or VRA, dont see many OTS being picked being that the FFA never wanted to hire OTS in the first place. VRA and CTI have priority over OTS folkes anyway and as long as thet FFA has enough CTI or VRA on the list you will not see another OTS announcement for quite some time............................................................................................... but i could be wrong you can never tell with that bunch in DC.

OG