Vaughn College Becomes Fifth to Receive FAA Certification Under New Program

A small college in Queens was recently given the federal green light to begin training air traffic controllers, allowing them to skirt moving out to Oklahoma for the FAA academy. This is the fifth location to be approved under a new effort to boost hiring.

Vaughn College first began its push to get more eyes watching the skies by applying for the FAA’s Enhanced Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative (AT-CTI) in April 2024. This program aims to increase the nation’s capacity for controller trainees, bringing opportunities to colleges across the US with a preexisting focus on aviation. In the long run, it hopes to solve a long-endued shortage of controllers that are critically outnumbered by surges in air traffic.

Several institutions were approved for AT-CTI throughout late 2024 and early 2025, including Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Tulsa Community College, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of North Dakota. Vaughn College was the fifth addition to the program and the first in the Northeast, earning certification on April 9, 2025.

“This new training program will put air traffic controller jobs within closer reach of Vaughn’s students and help ensure our air traffic control system is properly staffed for decades to come,” stated Donovan Richards, Queens Borough President and Vaughn College alumni. “As the leader of a borough that is home to two major airports that are significant drivers of our economy, I couldn’t be happier.”

Instead of having to move to Oklahoma and complete ATC training at the FAA Academy, students can work through the three-month course from home with their local professors. They will be certified at New York TRACON (N90), which is a regional approach control facility in Westbury. It manages a couple of high-traffic airports, including John F. Kennedy International (JFK) and LaGuardia (LGA), as well as multiple slightly less busy fields like Long Island MacArthur, Teterboro, Tweed New Haven, and Westchester County.

After graduation, qualified students could be placed straight into FAA facilities or apply to work in Federal Contract Towers.

FMI: www.vaughn.edu