Expert: D. Norkus - 7/30/2005

Question
Hello Dottie,
I recently learnt that the US government is providing financial aid (almost 80%)to individuals who wish to pursue a type rating. I'm not sure how far this is true, but I thought since you were an airline pilot, you might know something about this.
If you're unaware of this, is there some place I could do some more research?

Thanks

Answer
The program the people are talking about is the "Workforce Investment Act" or WIA and the crieria one must meet to get a grant is somewhat limited. Free money via this program for a type rating is not easy to get. Monies are paid out to qualifying individuals by state unemployment offices and  one would need to apply via that office to be considered. There are also time deadlines from the date of last employment to meet for application to the WIA program.

Some pilots who were furloughed or had lost a job after 9/11 applied and got funds to pay for their ATP or even type ratings (probably 737 for Southwest) to become more marketable so they could regain a flying job. The WIA pays to retrain people for entry back into the workforce, so some enterprising pilots found a way to get a grant to be 'retrained', so they would be more marketable in the aviation industry.

You can also do a search on the subject (enter "Workforce Investment Act" enclosed inside quotations in the search box) at http://forums.flightinfo.com as there are 32 threads on the subject there.

Here is the gov't link for WIA: http://www.doleta.gov/usworkforce/wia/