Flight Degrees: the devil is in the details. The VA will ONLY pay for classes that are on the degree. With that, you can only take classes that you need. That can be the difference between a Commercial Pilot program and a Professional Pilot program. It is very difficult to get a job as a commercial pilot with 200 hrs without CFI ratings. Some colleges figured this out and added degrees to include CFI ratings. They took out a aviation business class, and added CFI/I ground school and the flight labs to cover the fees. If you happen to be at a school that does not allow for the CFI ratings, consider this. It may not be part of the degree, but if they offer the classes as electives ( hint hint ), then I would suggest you hold off on taking electives in foreign policy making or creative writing, and go with CFI/I, MEI. Trade in $1000 in college classes for $10k in course work that will get you job right away. Don't blame the flight schools, it's the VA. Through there State LNOs and school reps, they apply a hefty set of rules. Gone are the early days of Sept 2009 when VA flight students could draft there own education plan. Now, the screws are tightening and the schools are dealing with audits. Claims of Vet favoritism, limits on how many Vets can be in a program, quotes and so forth. Doing your homework is the best start. Get a degree plan in writing with the Aviation Directors signature AND the VA reps signature. Tell them what classes you are going to take, and which of those the VA will pay for. Waiting until it's too late will cost you time off your 36 months and money.
RedTape: we've all been in the military, we know red tape. I've had a decade of of Mil Spec Red Tape, and I thought that was bad until I discovered the US Education System. No one in the DOD can match the likes of a college administration system. Be ready for it! No the answer to the questions before you answer it. Use the VA "ask a question" system, print out the answer take in 3-copies to the VA reps and note your appointment time and make reference to that appointment with your advisor. Watch out for enrollment departments. They transfer your previous military and college credit, and they WILL mess it up. Surprisingly, this should be your first stop in the search before you even go sit in the shiny airplanes. Once you know what they will accept, the VA rep will tell you what courses you can take, for how long, and what will be covered. Having that in writing will help when you take that information to the flight department for review and draft a plan to take back to the VA rep for additional review. VA Reps are your friend, they want to help you out and keep there job, sometimes that causes a conflict. All I can offer is advise on knowing more then they do about the Ch33 as it related to flight, because in most cases, they do not. Asking the question of what exactly on this list of classes will my Ch33 cover...and please put that in writing. We all know that no good plan survives first contact.
***** Take this with a grain of salt folks ***** Hope I was able to bring back what I learned from this process when I was at the planning stages
I posted this earlier in another forum, hope this helps out now that you're enrolled in a program!
GOOD LUCK
