Neu Aviation pilot program vs. 4 year degree program

Aviation students are missing out on $759,040 throughout their career by entering the job market years after their peers who attend accelerated pilot programs.

Why Do 4 Year Aviation Programs Exist?

Prior to 2022, major airlines required a 4 year degree to apply. The industry had maintained this standard for many years, which is why it traditionally made sense to simply attend a 4 year college while completing your pilot training. However, major carriers began dropping this requirement in 2022 as pilot demand has continued to sore. Fedex was the last major carrier to retain this requirement and it dropped it in June, 2022. 

But Aren’t 4 Year Aviation Degrees Preferred over Accelerated Pilot Programs?

Yes and no. Of course if everything was equal between two pilot applicants except one has a 4 year degree and one doesn’t, the applicant with the degree would likely get the job. However, keep in mind that these two pilots didn’t start training at the same time. The pilot with the degree likely started his training 6+ years ago while the non-degree pilot may have started his training less than 2 years ago. 

Yet they are at the same spot applying for the same job. 

This is important because if we change the scenario to having both pilots start training at the same time the non-degree pilot becomes much more preferred over the degree pilot. This is because now the non-degree pilot likely would have 3-4 thousand hours while the degree pilot would likely only have 1,000 if they qualified for restricted ATP. 

Who would you rather fly with? A degree is not preferred over experience, but as stated earlier everything else being equal a degree would give an edge.

But I Can Get a Restricted ATP with a 4 Year Aviation Degree Program

Let’s look at this restricted ATP. If you train at a Part 141 school and complete a 4 year program with a major in Aviation you can qualify for a Restricted ATP at 1,000 hours. Only 500 Hours less than training at a Part 61 School. This sounds great in theory but if a pilot completes the same training in 1 year instead of 4 years that 500 hours benefit quickly fades away. Even instructing at a slow school 500 hours in 3 years will not be an issue to come by. While at a busy flight school the 500 hours difference could be made up in under 6 months. So 1 year and 6 months vs 4 years, what sounds better to you?

Cost of Training at 4 Year School vs Neu Aviation Pilot Program

Attending a 4 year University is not a cheap endeavor. With rising costs of tuition students are leaving college with debt that they hang on to for a large portion of their working life. In addition you have room and board, meal plans which often go to waste, and books that have insane mark ups. In addition to all the added expense of attending a 4 year university the flight training costs themselves are often extremely inflated and the real costs are sometimes hidden into the “program cost”. 

• University Aviation program cost (varies based on school) = $280,000

• Neu Aviation pilot program cost (through CFI) = $65,000

• Savings = $215,000

When Does a 4 Year Aviation Program Make Sense?

It is clear that a 4-year degree program is more expensive and takes longer than necessary however, there are certain scenarios where they still make sense. For one, to qualify for your ATP Certificate (Required to fly for airlines) you must be 23 years old. So if you are fresh out of high school, you attend an accelerated program and build up your hours within a year or two you will still likely need to have to wait a couple years before moving on to the airlines. You don’t have to be 23 to get commercial pilot jobs, only any job required an ATP Certificate, ie Airlines. Pilots under age 23 attending an accelerated program can still start getting paid as a pilot sooner and build up even more experience as a CFI, CFII or other non-airline pilot job knowing that as soon as they are 23, they will have a lot more hours compared to most applicants. 

But if you have the time to wait anyways, and you really don’t want to miss out on the college experience, a four-year program might be for you. Another reason a 4-year aviation program is the route to go is if you are not sure you want to fly for a living but want to be in aviation. A focus in airport management might be just what you are looking for. A job such as operations manager at a larger airport will most likely require a degree in Aviation Management or Airport Management. 

4 Year Degrees Are Not a Bad Thing

While we almost never recommend someone spend the money on a bachelor’s degree centered around flying, we do encourage people to attend college and get a degree. You can pursue a degree from a local college or online while completing pilot training with Neu Aviation as one option. Just do it in something else as a contingency plan. Being a pilot, especially for an airline, depends on your health. Flying for an airline requires a first-class medical certificate. There are many conditions which you could develop, which could cause you to lose your medical certificate and end up out of a job. For this reason its not a bad idea to have a bachelor’s degree in your pocket, but in something unrelated to aviation that you could fall back on as a worst case scenario.