Two new bipartisan bills would expand educational funding options for flight training programs.
The Flight Education Access Act (H.R. 2874), co-sponsored by House Aviation Subcommittee members Colin Allred (D-TX) and Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R-OR) and Ranking Member Steve Cohen (D-TN), would extend federal student loan eligibility to university and Part 141 flight schools, increase loan limits for flight students, and establish a public/private partnership grant program to increase scholarship and outreach programs.
A companion bill has been introduced in the Senate by Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
Meanwhile, the Aviation Workforce Development Act (H.R. 1818) introduced by Reps. Mike Collins (R-GA) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) would make training at FAA-certified commercial pilot and aircraft maintenance technician schools a qualified expense for existing 529 savings plans.
The bill sponsors hope to include both measures in this year’s FAA reauthorization, according to officials with the National Air Transportation Association (NATA), which supports both measures.
I found this Article looking for the answer as to why the VA put a pause on online pilot students. Currently enrolled at Liberty using my Post 911 Gi Bill with a school start date of 08/21/2023.
Could this be the reason for that? I see mixed reviews about military personnel using benefits to obtain the certificate.
Great idea. 529 funds should be available to become educated in useful things, not useless art history degrees.
Our sons dream of being a commercial pilot was crushed when we discovered we are not able to use our savings since birth into his 529 plan. Without that we can not obtain the finances to send him and do not want him stuck with an astronomical debt to pay when the money is already there. It’s ridiculous that a commercial pilot program is not qualified spending just because the program will not accept fafsa.
This is a terrible idea. This nation is $32 TRILLION in debt. Default on taxpayer-backed college loans and the government’s unfair practice of bailing out people from their own bad decisions will only add to our debt and the rising portion of our annual budget that does nothing more than pay the interest on this debt. Easy money through college loans is the reason that the cost to study has skyrocketed. It will do the same for flight training. In fact, one new school in my area that caters primarily to military personnel, whose training is paid by taxpayers, is now so expensive that virtually all their student pilots are from the military. It is too expensive for people in the private sector, those of us who create all the wealth confiscated by government to fund such loans. It is a spiral to the bottom. Get the government out, prices will come down and the options will improve.
“In fact, one new school in my area that caters primarily to military personnel, whose training is paid by taxpayers, is now so expensive that virtually all their student pilots are from the military.”
I’m assuming when you say “…caters to military personnel“, you‘re referring to folks using their hard-earned GI Bill benefits to pursue flight training leading to a professional pilot position?
Yes, the GI Bill can be used towards attending a Part 141 accredited flight training program to obtain a commercial pilot license or Airline Transport Pilot certificate, and will pay for flights, tuition, books, fees, and supplies.
The reason why the VA will not pay towards getting a private pilot’s license is the GI Bill entitlement is supposed to be used towards learning a vocational skill that can be used as a career.
But since many earning their private pilot’s license only want to be able to fly as an avocation and not vocation, the “students” have to pay for that themselves.
We absolutely need flight schools that are committed to providing flight training under the VA’s stringent standards, requirements, and limitations, to help fill “professional pilot” seats.
You might remember that the next time you’re flying cross country in an airliner flown by a crew of veterans trained using your tax dollars.
Wait, what? @Kent, you know what a 529 plan is, right? As a parent who diligently put aside my hard earned salary proceeds into an investment fund so that we could help to off-set the rising costs of education expenses I’m struggling to understand your thought that this is a bad idea and cost taxpayers money? That is my money, not taxpayers. I should have more, not less, freedom to decide on the kind of education expenses it’s used for. I got a tax break by lowering my taxable income sure, but to suggest the American taxpayer is paying for the 529 is misleading and only serves the purposes of creating more drama in an area it doesn’t need to be. But maybe I’m missing something, I’ve been wrong before. Case in point, when our kids were born I thought this would be a great idea to set these 529 plans up. But now that the kids are older and one is diagnosed with a disability that makes a traditional college route a near impossibility, I look back and can’t help but wonder if there weren’t other financial techniques we could have pursued that weren’t as susceptible to poor fund management and usage limitations that have now got in the way of its intended use case.