To all of you applying to this program, be ware, it is not what it used to be, it is no longer sponsorship or pilot scholarships like they were in the past.
FACT: KQ has got into an arrangement with a local bank to loan the accepted candidates the required fees, but the catch is, the bank is treating these loans as commercial loans, that means they vary the interest rates at will, and those of you who know how unregulated the Kenyan banking sector is will understand what this means. The cadets who came back about a year ago are finding themselves in debt of way over 10 million Kshs more than double what they spent on their training in South Africa, and still the bank wants to increase the interest further up, which means these poor souls will be in debt of almost 15mill Kshs as they just settle in their carreers as pilots, they will be deducted these moneys well into their Captains years.
But that is only half the story, the saddest thing is, you as a cadet signs the dotted line with the bank for the loan approval, but you have no control of how the money will be spent in SA, the Airline takes this money and deals with the school, i.e 43 on your behalf. as the person who will be paying back the loan plus interest you might as well be given control of how your money is spent, privately sponsored students manage to spend much less than cadet sponsored students, this is because the school inflates their prices for things like uniforms, maps and even basic calculators when dealing with airlines, since their cadets have no choice but to buy them from the school. Accomodation is also another place where cadets loose a lot of money, privately students live out, and have their own meal arrangements, and this also help them save quite a bit of money.
At the end of the course privately sponsored student sometimes have spent less by as much as 100,000 Rands, compared to airline cadets, considering you will be paying inflated interest on these monies, that is quite significant.
This is no longer the AB INITIO cadet sponsorship like it used to be, or like other Airlines like EK and SAA are doing for their cadets, this is a loan arrangement between KQ and CO-OP bank that you have no control over, remember if your loose your job for whatever reason while at KQ and you are not done paying up the loan, the bank will be at liberty to hound you for it.
All i am saying is buyer be ware, at this time you might be better off pursuing your career in Medicine, Engineering or Business, rather than starting a career as a young man with a loan as big as your Dads mortgage and using half of your salary to pay for it.
