Advice/Feedback on Training needed urgently.
Hello everyone, a few months ago the future seemed very clear with how the aviation industry was.
However, due to obvious recent events this is no longer the case...
Therefore i need some advice and especially feedback from recent ATPL students.
A bit of context:
I am nearing the completion of my mandatory military service thus looking forward to going on to study. Applied to the CAE Generation easyJet programme a few months back and successfully passed all stages of the assessments.
This was in extremely close proximity to countries initiating their lock-down due to Covid-19 and thus i became worried that easyJet may cancel the MPL course. Lo and behold a couple of weeks after receiving the best news, i received the worst.
A letter from easyJet explaining why the programme will be 'suspended' at least for the time being (i think for a long long time personally). So, now with this new information i have to make a decision regarding the future.
CAE is high on my consideration at the moment as I have been offered a spot on their traditional Integrated ATPL course with a priority of transfer onto the Generation easyJet MPL if it happens to relaunch at any time during my Theory training (6-8 months).
Additionally CAE is a lucrative offer as they have the option of 'opting in' for parallel studies for a Bs(c) Hons in Air Transport Management. This is mixed in during various phases of the Integrated course and at the end upon graduation you have 300 out of 360 credits for the full Bs(c) Hons.
If I opt in i will definitely re-enroll to complete the degree and upgrade it to the full 360 credits. My thinking in choosing this route is that in approximately 2-2.5 years time i will have graduated and also have a degree as a backup/advantage in what could potentially be a very competitive hiring market. As well as having the option to go even further and study for a Masters if the industry is still at the earlier stages of recovery by the time I will have completed the ATPL.
COST: 90,000 GBP plus 5000 GBP for the degree. Additionally an average of 500 GBP per months for accommodation.
My only doubt regarding CAE is the various rumors/feedback floating around groups and forums about delays and or poor training due to Instructors coming and going rapidly. (perhaps the instructor situation will become more stable in light of corona and unemployment threat.)
The alternative option is FTA Global, as i have had some good feedback surrounding this school. The total cost purely for the ATPL will come around 78000 GBP, again with a similar or slightly cheaper cost of accommoddation (I imagine no cheaper than 400 GBP per month).
However if I follow this route there is no added element of the degree. I am also not entirely sure how their hiring aid fares upon graduation.
Any feedback/advice would be greatly appreciated, if anyone knows of other reputable academies with good feedback please let me know.
I have considered modular but Integrated seems to be the preferred course by airlines and I imagine there are benefits of having your whole training experience handled by one provider for the sake of continuity and smooth transitions.
I have decent grades from school and could potentially look into traditional University degrees but I am not sure i would be passionate enough about a subject that i have to find in a relatively short amount of time that is outside of aviation. As-well as the fact that for a lot of Universities i would not be able to apply for this academic year which would mean a major loss of time for me since i already had to spend time going through the mandatory military service.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope a positive and insightful discussion comes out of this.