Atec
6th Mar 2008, 22:09
Before I went to NAIA trough NEAR I tried to find out as much as possible about the school. I heard some positive things and some negative. Since this is a huge investment, you need to know where to use your money.
To make people considering coming here aware of things, both positive and negative, I post this thread.
The school provide student housing for $500 a month, nothing included. The apartments were really worn down and had roach traps in the corners when we came. They had not been cleaned either. So a lot of us denied signing the lease contract and moved out of the school campus. For the same amount of money and only 15 min drive away, we got brand new apartments, with TV, internet, electricity etc included in the price. So I will say the price for student housing is a ripoff. Talk to other students who have been here a while before deciding to sign any housing contract.
The ground school and the instructors here are very good. But there is not enough instructors. School rules say that no instructor should have more than 6 students. Most have more than ten students.
If you follow the ground school and pay attention you learn a lot.
The instructors will teach you on an individual basis based on your skills.
People working at the school are very nice to us and helpfull.
Airplanes or the lack of airplanes is the biggest issue. Most of the airplanes are really old. The oldest one is from 1978 and most are 80's models. Just a few are 90's models. This causes a lot of downtime due to mainteinance. And they do not have enough people at maintenance either. Everytime the issue is brought up with the school, they promise new airplanes and more mechanics. Both our class and previous classes were promised that new airplanes would be here when they started.
So was not the case. So don't be fooled by what they tell you. Expect repeated delays because of unavailable aircrafts.
A lot of people are considering holding back the second payment to the school, until the availability problem on aircrafts is fixed.
Weather is very uncertain, but I guess it's like that everywhere.
Safety is a big issue here so the weather often put restrictions on the flying.
At NEAR they say you can finish in 9 months. That is far from the case. Most of last years January class is still here, doing CFI training.
Over all, it's a good school, but I do not feel that I get what I have paid for. The lack of available airplanes and instructors causes long delays in training. At times there have only been 3 available airplanes out of about 20 total, and it happens to often.
My advise:
Before you come here. Try to get in touch with people who have been here before.
Don't trust all the promises from NAIA or NEAR and if they promise something, get it on paper and signed.
Be aware that the school price does not include all fees for check rides etc. So the actual total costs are much higher than expected.
Expect to be at NAIA at least for 12 months under current conditions, not nine.
To make people considering coming here aware of things, both positive and negative, I post this thread.
The school provide student housing for $500 a month, nothing included. The apartments were really worn down and had roach traps in the corners when we came. They had not been cleaned either. So a lot of us denied signing the lease contract and moved out of the school campus. For the same amount of money and only 15 min drive away, we got brand new apartments, with TV, internet, electricity etc included in the price. So I will say the price for student housing is a ripoff. Talk to other students who have been here a while before deciding to sign any housing contract.
The ground school and the instructors here are very good. But there is not enough instructors. School rules say that no instructor should have more than 6 students. Most have more than ten students.
If you follow the ground school and pay attention you learn a lot.
The instructors will teach you on an individual basis based on your skills.
People working at the school are very nice to us and helpfull.
Airplanes or the lack of airplanes is the biggest issue. Most of the airplanes are really old. The oldest one is from 1978 and most are 80's models. Just a few are 90's models. This causes a lot of downtime due to mainteinance. And they do not have enough people at maintenance either. Everytime the issue is brought up with the school, they promise new airplanes and more mechanics. Both our class and previous classes were promised that new airplanes would be here when they started.
So was not the case. So don't be fooled by what they tell you. Expect repeated delays because of unavailable aircrafts.
A lot of people are considering holding back the second payment to the school, until the availability problem on aircrafts is fixed.
Weather is very uncertain, but I guess it's like that everywhere.
Safety is a big issue here so the weather often put restrictions on the flying.
At NEAR they say you can finish in 9 months. That is far from the case. Most of last years January class is still here, doing CFI training.
Over all, it's a good school, but I do not feel that I get what I have paid for. The lack of available airplanes and instructors causes long delays in training. At times there have only been 3 available airplanes out of about 20 total, and it happens to often.
My advise:
Before you come here. Try to get in touch with people who have been here before.
Don't trust all the promises from NAIA or NEAR and if they promise something, get it on paper and signed.
Be aware that the school price does not include all fees for check rides etc. So the actual total costs are much higher than expected.
Expect to be at NAIA at least for 12 months under current conditions, not nine.