Why do they charge more?
 

Looking at Full Time ATPL Ground School costs for next year, I can help but wonder WHY there is as huge difference is costs??

Oxford @ £4,400
Cabair @ £2,950
BCFT @ £2,795

That is a massive £1,600 difference from Oxford to BCFT!!!!

Does anyone know what the difference is in the training and teaching?? But most of all is it worth paying an extra £1,600?

Thanks
VFR

are they al Distance learning fees or full time ground school, or a mix of both?

full time classroom fees will ofcourse be more than DL.

All figures above are for Full Time ground school. There is no question that if I was to take distance learning, I would choose Bristol. :ok:

VFR

I think it's just Oxford making use of their brand.

Oxford have automatically dimming lights when powerpoint is switched on :ok:

I'm sure the extra charge is for your personal lap dancer courtesy of OAA during those awful JAR exams.

G-XO

On another note, does anyone know what the current uniform requirements are for Cabair in Bournemouth???

Thanks
VFR

They charge more, because some people will pay more - thinking it makes a difference.

See "preduk" above.

Maybe they charge more because you get to sit the exams in their own classrooms? :E

They charge more because of their status as a 'brand.' They have an image to maintain. End result for you....no difference, except your wallet is up to 1600 quid lighter.

In my book BGS are heads above everyone. However you must be disciplined if you go distance learning.

Jesus...OAA have automatically dimming lights linked to the projector! Another explanation could be...... Sit in a nice cosy OAA classroom in your usual shirt and tie.....then sit in a Cabair classroom with you coat on (no that really is no exageration!!!). Cabair GS purely judged on teaching and quality of instructors 10/10 though so every cloud an all that!

Can't explain the BCFT difference though!

Agree with the above, has to be said that the structure of the OAA groundschool was absolutely outstanding! But with nothing to compare it to I don't know any better!

Regards

CR

If ever, I wouldn't even bother paying UK CAA their extortionate fees for CPL licence issuance, skills test, ATPL theory exam fees etc. I'd rather do it elsewhere in Europe, JAA/EASA papers but good-bye to such stuff.

I still have too many things ahead, but can't get my head around this nonsense. Paying ground school by DS in the UK or elsewhere, would be secondary. I just have to check I could do theory with UK school (BGS, CAPT, CATS etc) and sit the exams elsewhere and all the technicalities with question bank.

Explain the difference of £712/216/868 and about 20-50 quid and not sure for the overall exam sitting fees.. :ugh:

Initial Class 1 medical in the UK might have got bit cheaper with some of the things dropped, but that's just not enough. I wouldn't bother with initial in the UK either :-P I could have 2 or 3 for the price of 1 (JAA, FAA and maybe Canadian CAA). Can't compare currencies off the top of my head.
Just like I did with Class 2 JAA and Class 3 FAA (could have asked for FAA Class 2 I presume), basically 2 for 1 price :-P Nice that the FAA PPL medical's now good for 5 years /youngish folks/

On a lighter note:
Yeah, talking about 'extras' with mentioned schools. I could be partial to shell out bit more for FT classroom ground school with couple foxy ladies teaching the syllabus. You know, I could be distracted for a while, but would pay more attention and look forward to next class :-D But that's just a chauvinist motivation idea (working only with straight males, naturally)

VFR Transit: When I was there - it was white shirt, black tie, black trousers, and bars were pretty much optional, however, in reality, first day everyone is suited and booted, and then as its coming up to final exams and doing your 3 mock tests, it all goes downhill! Lucky to be clean shaven , let alone in uniform. They aren't going to bite your head off about it.

However - as a student who was signed up for OAA and then went to cabair (for GS only). With Oxford your paying for nice buildings with attractive women working in them. Cabair (Bournemouth) have a fantastic group of groundschool, and if they can get 14 FTP from someone like me then that should be all that needs to be said! I went to pay them a visit (after going to oxford and signing up) and I just realised how with oxford all the extra money was just for the name- not for the teaching quality.

BCFT on the other hand... I was there when they ran their first ATPL GS course - lets just say their pass rates were not anything to shout about... like the saying goes "Don't buy Mk. 1 anything" . I'd let them settle and get an idea about things and sign up for Cabair :).