ATPL'S STUDY dilemma
 

I am now very close to actually having to choose a school where to do my atpl's (modular full-time).i know this might have been asked alot of times but as long as we wannabes keep popping up ,this question will never cease.

IS IT REALLY WORTH DOSHING OUT EXTRA CASH TO GO AND DO YOUR ATPL'S AT A SCHOOL LIKE OXFORD OR JEREZ WHEN U CAN PAY LESS AND GO TO OTHER SCHOOLS WHICH ARE NOT AS POPULAR BUT DO GET GOOD REVIEWS??

i am not asking another version of the typical question''where is the best place to do your atpl's?'' but simply trying to cutdown on options and finally make a decision.
Cheers

Just find a school where you like the staff, much will depend on them.

Airlines
 

Will not care where you have done your ATPL theory.
If you can do your ATPL theory for less money and get the same quality of training then you should do just that.


As long as I've been in these forums all I've heard about Bristol, AFT, Naples, Oxford is all good.

Not saying that IFTA (if that's it's name) is worse or better, merely that these schools seem to have a good name.


For your own benefit I suggest using the SEARCH option on this forum and type in school names and see what is said about them.


Hope you find what you want and gl on your career.

Thank you for your replies,but i think i misled people with my last comment.

What i am really asking is WHETHER IN THE CASE OF ATPL GROUNDSCHOOL ,DO U ACTUALLY GET WHAT U PAY FOR OR DO SOME SCHOOLS LIKE OXFORD ARE MORE EXPENSIVE COZ OF THEIR REPUTATION AS BEING BEING ONE OF THE BEST SCHOOLS(MY OPINION)
CHEERS

Hi

The problem here is that we don't know what your end goal is.

If you want to fly jets for an airline, it ain't gonna make much difference because no-one can really answer that right now. But if it's something more specific elsewhere in the food chain, it could make all the difference in the world.

Best of luck

I think you get what you pay for. A full time sit down ATPL course should cost £3500 to £5500 or it will lose money. If we (bristol) did one I'd price it at the top end of that bracket. If the course you are offered is priced under that level, ask yourself why.

On the second half of your question, no-one will care where you trained, at all.

thanks again for the replies guys.
STRAIGHT&LVL: MY END GOAL IS TO GO ALL THE WAY IN CIVIL AVIATION,HAVING SAID THAT ONE MUST NOT FORGET THE SITUATION THIS INDUSRTRY IS IN REGARDING EMPLOYMENT."I WOULD FLY ANYTHING"(with a valid CofA) :p


Alex BGS:Thank you for your post ,it was the one that came closer to answering my question:ok:


CHEERS

The Full Time/Home Study option is one that will depend on your personal circumstances, and study habits. Although I would have prefered to go on a full time course, as I find it esier to learn this way, I currently have a full time job, and other commitments, which makes this inpractical. I therefore chose the distance learning course with BristolGS, after visiting there, and using the mightly useful search function in pprune, and have my first set of exams booked for November.

With respect to the prices, distance learning costs do not vary by more that a couple of hundred quid, and, are excellent value considering the 4 weeks courses included, so i would not consider this a significant factor in choice of school.

If you are going to stay for an extended period at a residential school, then you really need to visit before splashing the cash, and since residential was not an option available to me, I have not visited any of the schools, or done any reearch in this area, so I am unable to comment in this area.

Regards

NB

PS, please get your CAPS LOCK KEY fixed it SEEMS TO get randomly STUCK ON.

There is no logical reason to assume that high prices mean high quality or that low prices mean low quality. In many cases there is no direct link between the two.

More importantly, if you assume that you must pay high prices to get high quality you will miss some very good deals. As an example of what I mean, there is a scheme whereby FTOs can get what is effectively a government grant for each student they teach. This enables the price of a full time groundschool ATPL course to be reduced by up something like £1600. The school's profit margin is not changed so there is no reason for them to reduce their costs or the quality of the course provided.

At the end of the day prospective students must look very carefully at the offers of the various schools. They must then make a balanced judgement of which school best suits their needs.

Keith was correct in what he said...........'look very carefully at what all the schools have to offer' however he forgot to mention that when it comes to Bournemouth..........GO AROUND!!!!!!!

I think Keith is partly right. High prices do not mean high quality but the corollory is certainly true, low prices do mean low quality. There will be a reason why the prices are low, and it ain't altruism.

although i appreciate Keith.Williams post ,i have to agree with Alex if i understood him correctly,if it so happens as Keith.Williams said ''there is a scheme whereby FTOs can get what is effectively a government grant for each student they teach'' in this case i think that the FTO's use the money granted to them to go into their bank accounts and not to lower their fees as after all they are running a business and IMHO there is no room for altruism in business.

Geraldn........I could'nt have said it better myself. How many government grants would you need in order to purchase a red Toyota Celica???????? C'mon Keith! That was a poor attempt at promoting so called competitive prices. A Leopard never changes its spots. Go Around..... I say again.....Go Around.

I am aware of only three UK FTOs that are registered for this scheme. All of these have used it to reduce or limit their prices.
All three have prices significantly lower than non-participating schools. This is not simply an altruistic action, but is intended to increase the market share of the schools involved.

Sadly PEGGY MURPHY would rather exercise her uncontrollable urge to do harm to a school at which she has never studied rather than to allow potential students to benefit from the government grants scheme. She no doubt considers that any harm that she might do to other students in pursuing her vendetta is the responsibility of others.

GERALDN, the simple fact is that if you are unwilling to learn about this scheme you will inevitably pay a higher price for your training. At the very least you should investigate it before making your decision. Some schools may use the scheme to line their pockets, but others will not.

KeithW.;i am not unwilling to learn about the scheme ,but u have to understand that it seems pretty odd that only 3 FTOs are registered for this scheme,im sorry for being a sceptic but why is it so?

Peggy; why such contempt for Bournemouth? ,u may PM with your reasons if you want.

Cheers

GERALDN
Your question is the equivalent of asking why was there initially only one low cost airline. Quite simply because the others either did not understand that it was possible, or (in some cases) did not want it to become possible. But once the customers recognised the value of the idea, a larger number of suppliers took it up.

For many years only two schools have used the scheme. Both are colleges of further/higher education. It was only when we investigated the subject that it became apparent to us that all FTOs could use it. We are simply the first. Provided students are prepared to insist on benefiting from the grant money, all FTOs will eventually join. But if students swallow the low cost = low quality line, the grant money will stay in the pockets of the government and students will continue to pay more than they need to.

This scheme can only benefit students. But it involves effort on the part of the FTOs to register. So some will be unwilling to take it up unless student pressure makes them do so.

If you wish to understand what Peggy Murphy is doing you should do a search for his preveious posts. Then ask yourself how many of them have been constructive contributions to the forum.

OK, I'll bite. When I looked at this scheme it was clearly stated that the grant money was only available to non-profit making organisations. Admittedly that was two years ago but I don't imagine its changed. How did you get round that?

Well at least we are now getting somewhere in that you have admitted that the scheme exits ALEX.

Could it be that your failure to find a way of using it is due (at least in part) to your stated view that "low prices do mean low quality"?

As I said in my earlier post, this is a system by which the FTOs can reduce the prices they charge their students without any need to reduce their costs or quality. All of the FTOs are aware of the system, very few have taken the trouble to make it work.

I would very much like to get a grant for our students. The only problem is that, on my reading, 'the scheme', only works if you are part of a Further Education (FE) College or University. This allows you to pick up government funding and also not charge VAT. The disadvantage of 'the scheme' is that, according to the CAA's rules, the FE College are now the FTO and they are sub-contracting the training to the groundschool provider. As the FTO the FE College should hold the approvals. In your case they don't seem to.

I am intrigued as to how you have managed to make the scheme work. Please expand. Have the CAA approved the commercial relationship? Have they agreed that Bournemouth & Poole FE College don't need approval? Are you charging VAT? If not, have the local VAT office agreed the VAT treatment is correct? If you have managed to get round these hurdles I think the whole industry will benefit, it's quite exciting.

Sorry to get off topic geraldn, this is fascinating!

I'm sure you do not really expect me to give you the product of almost a years work by lawyers and accountants ALEX.