Fee Help - RTO's - And the little guy
Once again the cost of compliance seems to be affecting the little guy. The introduction of Fee help back in 2009/10ish for flight training fees has created a new hurdle for flight training providers at the mum/dad level. I have been told the cost to "sign up" with an RTO to access fee help for a flight school is significant and no doubt with the added costs of higher administration and possibly overhaul of facilities to meet requirements.
Fee help subsidised course costs for an instrument rating can be as high as $30 000 - possibly higher but this is a figure easily accessible. The same cost at a smaller more traditional school ~ $16-17 000. Instructor rating roughly the same variation. I'd hate to see what a cpl course is!
The easy access to a government loan is extremely attractive I imagine to students coming through now as it was a struggle for myself and most I'm sure to raise the funds required to self fund a cpl etc. What is happening now is that the commercial students are pushed to the larger schools purely for financial purposes. Leaving smaller schools to pick up the small amount of weekend warrior style flying unless they have the cashflow or funding to join in with the big boys like some have managed to arrange at substantial cost.
Is there any accountability for the excessive fees now being charged by a few? Maybe the outcome of this article will provide stricter oversight of where the money is going - http://ab.co/2bI6YYd