Director Of Aviation Says Program Can Save Students Up To $50,000

The Parkland College Institute of Aviation at the University of Illinois is offering very special opportunities for students who wish to pursue aviation as a career.

Parkland College took over the aviation institute from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the fall of 2014. Parkland enjoyed a long relationship with the University of Illinois although that fact was never promoted vigorously. As the University of Illinois reformulated its approach to flight training, interested students were turned away but now Parkland is reinvigorating the aviation curriculum and is seeking to rebuild the pipeline of new flight students by offering compelling options.

"We believe we can save students $50,000 and save them literally years of time to achieve their goals of flying as a vocation," said Sybil Phillips, Director of Aviation Instruction for Parkland College. "Parkland has much to offer prospective aviation students, while also immersing them in a traditional course of higher education studies."

"Airlines are no longer demanding four-year university degrees as they once did," noted Phillips. "However, they do put a high value on structured learning and Parkland College is very well suited to provide that sort of environment." Parkland students can earn an Associate in Science (Aviation) degree.

Last fall, Parkland received a Piper Warrior Flight Training Device (FTD) from Frasca International that provides a larger "cockpit" for student training, one that more closely resembles real-world functionality. Frasca has promised to continue its long and fruitful relationship with Parkland.

"We are centrally located to several major metropolitan areas, notably Chicago," said Patty Lehn, Parkland's Director of Marketing & Public Relations. "We are also reasonably proximate to St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Louisville as well as Peoria, Joliet, Decatur, and Springfield." Parkland will be reaching out to these population centers as it extends an invitation to students in those communities.

FMI: www.parkland.edu/aviation