Expert: D. Norkus - 1/29/2008

Question
I am a Kenya man aged 18 and just completed my high school.My dream
career has always been flying but the fees are too high and I wonder if
there any institutions in the US that offer scholarships or
grants that I could possibly be accessible to. I would be grateful for
any help or information. John"

Answer
John

There are many, many students that are hoping to find scholarships or grants for their aviation training. While there are some available, unfortunately they do not pay the entire cost of your aviation degree or flight training program and are small amounts ($500 to $5,000) to help lessen the burden of a student for a semester. Some allow students to reapply each year but most scholarships are not very much considering many aviation degrees cost $60,000-100,000.  

Additionally, most scholarships are given by organizations, associations or clubs to people that fit their limiting applicant prerequisites such as: living in a specific region, attending a certain school, being a specified ethnicity or sex, your parents are affiliated with the donating professional organization or union and other limiting criteria. Being a Kenyan, you will find it very hard to find a scholarship at a U.S. school because of these kind of prerequisites. Many also require U.S. citizenship to be eligible.

Here is a listing of aviation scholarships from the University Aviation Association so you can see what kind of criteria an applicant must meet to apply:
http://www.uaa.aero/sitefiles/uaa/resourcebin/202006.pdf

AvScholars.com is one of the best resources on the internet for aviation scholarship information. I suggest you go to this link for more information- http://www.avscholars.com/Pay_for_School/financial_aid_scholarships.htm
By looking over their database of available monies, you can find out if there is an award you may qualify for.

Hope this can help you locate something that may be of help,
Dottie