Utah Valley State College Aviation

[adam_jorgensen]

Is anybody familiar with this college? There's a flight school in my area that offers a BS in aviation through a correspondence program with the Utah Valley State College. It almost sounds too good to be true. This is the only flight school that offers a BS in aviation in my province. It would be good to do it and still be at home and everything so that it saves on $$$. Just want to know if its recognized and what exactly the program is like if anybody knows.

 

[ksu_aviator]

I worked at a flight school that had this program. While I was there noone opted for it so I can't tell you much about it. It is a legitimate program. You do get a real degree and the flight school you'll be going to is FAR 141, which I believe is probably better than a FAR 61 program.

Good Luck

 

[adam_jorgensen]

Well I live in Canada so I hope it would be formatted for Canada. Here, what you call FARS there its called CARS up here (canadian air regulations.) I have learned everything so far in reguard to the CARs so I hope it would stay the same.

 

[JediNein]

Howdy!
UVSC treats all foreign students, especially Canadian Citizens, like dirt. I speak from first-hand experience. They are far worse than any college (7) I've taken classes at, with the exception of Salt Lake Community College. It's something to do with state law.

Ok, now that you've been warned, you can expect it and be prepared to deal with pounds of lost paperwork. Have the admissions AND financial aid department attach a scanned copy of your citizenship papers to your file. Be prepared to pay up front and then get reimbursed from financial aid, unless you are applying now for Fall 2003.

Don't expect anything but loans for aid. Careful, as certain colleges expect ALL of their students to have V.A. benefits or winning the lottery to cover exactly 51% of your financial need. I never felt like supporting Nellie, Sallie, or Citibank and the rich parents, nope, haven't seen 'em. Manage your budget carefully as the first year amounts won’t cover a pilot course plus tuition.

The college experience depends on the student and the professor. If the student doesn't care, neither does the professor. If the student does care, shows up during office hours, takes on some research projects, nabs an internship, and is not afraid to question, the professors will respond.

Now, what to avoid in an online course: 1. instructors that do not return messages within 24-48 hours without warning. Two classes were taught by airline pilots, they took their laptops with them and responded from some pretty interesting locations. 2. Large classes. About 15 students is enough. More than that and you don't get much attention, which feeds into #1 and means your questions go unanswered. There are no writing labs or teaching assistants for online students. #3 instructors that refuse to use office hours time with their online students. Run away. Run away now. #4 instructors that don't understand being stranded in a sleazy pilot lounge somewhere without any method of connecting to the internet to turn in an assignment and a broken airplane. #5 instructors that only assign term papers for the entire class. Gee, why get the textbook?

The courses themselves are like Riddle’s undergrad courses. If you were really bored you could complete them in a weekend, one weekend per course. There is very little interaction between students or between professor and students. Your grades for many courses depend on how well you do on written tests. UVSC should accept the local regulatory equivalent for the exams – talk to your flight school.

However easy the courses may seem, if you run into a question, ask for assistance NOW. Do NOT delay. Call the professor or your CFI. Delaying causes many unneeded failed grades. In the same line, if you become too busy, a “W” for withdrawing is far better than a “F.” If you can, go after the best grades possible. “Dean’s list” does look good on a resume.

For the textbooks, get your ground instructor certificate ASAP, join NAFI, and use your discounts to buy the books. Then keep the aviation texts. Get the CFI as soon as possible and begin instructing, you’ll have a lot of experience by the time you graduate.

Do not ignore internships and scholarships. You are attending a UAA school which opens the door for many opportunities. Canada also treats their students well with grants and scholarships for residents. The more other people that pay for your degree, the fewer years you have to spend paying for the degree. And if you graduate to no job, defer payments on the loans instead of letting them become defaulted.

I probably don’t need to go into credit cards except to advise your mailbox will soon be jammed with offers and the fine print says 23% is an average DAILY interest rate. Not a good idea to put tuition on, but great to have for emergencies and fueling. I think COPA (http://www.copanational.org) has a card.

Good luck and Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein
Current UVSC student

 

[bobbysamd]

College

Is anybody familiar with this college? There's a flight school in my area that offers a BS in aviation through a correspondence program with the Utah Valley State College. It almost sounds too good to be true. This is the only flight school that offers a BS in aviation in my province. It would be good to do it and still be at home and everything so that it saves on $$$. Just want to know if its recognized and what exactly the program is like if anybody knows.

I just wanted to compliment and encourage you for at least thinking about college. You didn't seem that hot about college a couple of months ago.

Jedi wrote a very interesting post about distance learning. To second her somewhat, I know a young lady, who is not a flight student, who started with distance learning this semester. She is very much housebound because she helps her family on a farm. She was needed to go to a meeting out of town but claimed she could not get away because she had to attend her online classes and her "professors" would not excuse her. She ended up dropping her classes.

In any event, make sure the college you choose is accredited, either down here by one of the six accrediting bodies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and/or the like body in Canada.

By the way, how's your airport job going?

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

I don't have any firsthand experience with the college, but, here in Green Bay, one of our flight schools just started a program with them, and the guy who runs the flight school gave me all of the info.

You can live here in GRB, and get a 2 or 4-yr. degree in aviation. You can take all of your classes on-line, or take some of them on-line and the rest either at a local technical college or the local U. or Wisconsin campus (UW-Green Bay). I think the tuition was about $12K USD, not counting the flying.

I would definitely check into it. Also, UVSC should have a list of alumni you could contact to ask them how they liked it.

Good luck!

Cliff
GRB

 

[adam_jorgensen]

It is an accreted college that I do know. Well, I hope most of the things Jedi said weren't 100% true. Most likely this will be the program I will go for. Its right down my ally because I have been homeschooled since grade 3 so I know what its like to learn at home and I like it so it shouldn't be a problem. Yea, a few months ago I wasn't too keen on going to college but that was mostly because of the high cost of the colleges I was looking into at the time and the distance away. This I can afford and I can go home everyday and don't have to leave home for a while. I was planning after I finish high school to take a year or more off to save up for it but while taking my flight training. I won't let a year or more take my mind off my education but I have to in order to save money. Where I work, if I worked for a year or more, it would pay for possibly all of my 4 year tuition and some of my flight training although I may have to take out a loan but it shouldn't have to be big though. I'm a really good saver at $$$.

Bobby, the airport job is going great! Its hard work and long hours sometimes but it sure beats my last job. I haven't had a negative day there yet where as most of the jobs I had before, I had negative experiences in the first few days of starting. I will eventually want to move up from what I do now because its at the lowest level but maybe in a year or so, I could move up to the security airport vehicles that you see driving around on the airport. That is what I really want to do so I'm going to work really hard and prove it to them that I am a hard worker and deserve to move up. I'm hoping that I can still keep this job and go to college at the same time. I'm part time there right now (about 32 hours a week) but could just be a casual once I go back to college. That or I could keep it the way it is and it may not interfere I hope. I really love my job there but I am not going to get distracted from what I really want to do, flying. This will just help me get there.

On a little off topic note, I talked to this guy who works at my airport who is a pilot with a couple of thousand hours and his views on aviation and how it will turn out is more negative than what people say about it around here. Lots of people say that it will pick up in a few years, this guy says it will be like this forever. What about all those baby boomers who will retire in the next few years? Then there might be a pilot shortage. But all in all, I'm not too worried. This guy doesn't even want to try to get in with an airline.

 

[bobbysamd]

the airport job is going great! Its hard work and long hours sometimes but it sure beats my last job. I haven't had a negative day there yet where as most of the jobs I had before, I had negative experiences in the first few days of starting. I will eventually want to move up from what I do now because its at the lowest level but maybe in a year or so, I could move up to the security airport vehicles that you see driving around on the airport. That is what I really want to do so I'm going to work really hard and prove it to them that I am a hard worker and deserve to move up. I'm hoping that I can still keep this job and go to college at the same time. I'm part time there right now (about 32 hours a week) but could just be a casual once I go back to college. That or I could keep it the way it is and it may not interfere I hope. I really love my job there but I am not going to get distracted from what I really want to do, flying. This will just help me get there.

Excellent! Play your cards right and you can make plenty of invaluable contacts! Don't forget the old expression: All things cometh to he who waiteth - while he worketh like HELL while he waiteth!

Good luck with your choice of college.

 

[JediNein]

claimed she could not get away because she had to attend her online classes and her "professors" would not excuse her. She ended up dropping her classes.

That part doesn't sound like any online college I am aware of. Most programs out there, UNO, ERAU, UVSC, and others are based on asynchronous learning. In other words, there is no set times to be online. Between network problems, connection problems, server overloads, time zone considerations, and the fact that many pilots taking these courses do not have a set schedule, or even layover site with internet access, requiring a class meeting at a certain time is silly. If a professor sets a class meeting online, there should be meeting notes posted for the 3-10 students that were not able to attend. If the professor is being a jerk about it, dropping the course is best, along with avoiding that person as an instructor in any future courses.

Well, I hope most of the things Jedi said weren't 100% true.

I hope your experience will be better, too. Be prepared and not afraid to follow up on anything you need to get the best education you want. Students can make a difference. Anyone remember the sit-in at Stanford for two-ply toliet paper in the restrooms?

Fly SAFE!
Jedi Nein

 

[bobbysamd]

Online class "attendance"

That part doesn't sound like any online college I am aware of. Most programs out there, UNO, ERAU, UVSC, and others are based on asynchronous learning. In other words, there is no set times to be online. Between network problems, connection problems, server overloads, time zone considerations, and the fact that many pilots taking these courses do not have a set schedule, or even layover site with internet access, requiring a class meeting at a certain time is silly.

The person in question was a nonpilot taking courses in Kansas. I have no reason to doubt her veracity, but I found her story and yours, above, to be interesting and cautionary about online learning.