Sorry to hear about your first-hand experience with this nasty industry. Unfortunately, the mentioned school has lately developed into something that is similar to a ponzi scheme. Because of the student loan regulations in Norway they have for many years been one of few (read: the only) training provider on the market offering what schools would call "zero-hero" training. This has put the school in a situation where they have more students than they are able to handle and the treatment of the current students is nothing less than impressive (in the words most negative meaning!). A few years back the training program was flipped so all students would start with the theoretical training and only once finished with that you will be put in a queue for the flight training, whenever such spot would become available (.i.e.the first year you will not touch an aircraft). This has a few major effects for the students:
- Students are required to pay 80000 EUR upfront during the ATPL theoretical training. If the students are not released for flight training or terminated they will get zero refunded. That is right z-e-r-o. See what they did there? The more students they terminate, the more money they will get (as the theoretical training is cheap to provide compared to flight training). In those cases, the student pays 900% more than what the training would have costed elsewhere.
- Once the theory is complete you will have to wait for a slot to become available. Yes, that is correct.... Paying more than 80000 EUR does not mean you can start the flight training, as you can only do this when a slot becomes available. Unless you change to their new training base in the USA (not EASA approved as of now, but they are doing marketing as if it was), which in my opinion would be the most stupid decision ever. Why would someone pay for a training program in Norway (among the most expensive in the world) to get transferred to the USA still paying the Norwegian price?
- The ATPL theory is not easy. This is the theory required to be a commander of a commercial aircraft. In other words, this is the theoretical course required to be a captain of an Airbus A380. Completing the whole theoretical course with no flying experience or no flying skills to relate to is like a rock star starting to play guitar for the first time during a concert. It makes very little sense.
Ask yourself the question if the above is implemented to benefit the student or to generate more revenue from the student. Find a training provider where you can live with the cost and are happy with the training program.
On top of this, there are many other issues, few students, if any, finish the program on time and few or none finish the program on budget. I could go on for days, but if anyone wants to become a pilot at the moment (taking COVID19 into account) there are many schools in Europe offering decent training for a fair price. This school is not one of them. Shortly they are likely to introduce a "flight instructor program" extending the duration from 2 to 3 years. This will not only be the longest flight instructor training program in the world, this could also mean that your flight instructor will be a part of that program or possible graduated a few days back. Sounds like you are getting what you are paying for?!
My final advice, if you are looking for pilot training - THINK TWICE - if you still decide to do it - THINK TWICE - before signing up with this training provider and last but not least, best of luck!