The Spartan College of Aeronautics and Technology

Date: Feb 22 2009
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
I am a graduate of the Associates Degree at Spartan's flight school. I want provide a review of Spartan's flight school based on my personal experiences. I first talked to the recruiter at spartan which talked mainly about the rewards of an aviation career in kind of a "used car salesman" kind of way. Keep in mind their job is only to get you to attend the school. They will probably not go over certain obsticals that you will go through like low initial salaries, ever increasing costs of plane rentals, the 20-day rule, red-x's etc. I decided to go for it and signed up for loans (Sallie mae and Stafford). I did not fly as currently as most other students, because I was making good money at my job, but I eventually had to pay more money for a few extra flights to retain some skills that I got a little rusty at. I graduated with a pretty high GPA, and I am continuing my education. From what I hear Spartan's training closely paralles the skills needed for an aviation career, however the cost is expensive. I was told the Associates would cost about $60,000. Ended up a little over 70k. Keep in mind that most students will require more than the minimum flight hours to become profficient. Batchleor's degree should be about 18-20k. They say you can get a Batchleor's discount for by being employed at Spartan full time but there are some hidden challenges to this. Ohh and keep an eye on the accruing interest on your loans if you have a strong stomache. I also encounterd numerous increases in plane rental fees. Spartan has a prime location for flight training, but the facilities do need help in the form of a newer fleet of aircraft and a less "trailer park" type of feel to the classrooms. They seem to always be restructuring, but haven't quite got it right yet. I feel that this school has potential that is not being used currently.