How to Use Your GI Bill to Pay for Flight School

In this interview, my guest is Jared Pierson and when you watch you are going to discover how you can use your GI bill to pay for your flight school!

Heres a tip from a subsbriber named Sam Levander: I’m a vet and have used a program and currently work part time for a company that will help service members transition and use those benefits. There is a program for the department of Defense called Skillbridge that allows separating or retiring service members the ability to work the last six months of their career in a capacity that facilitates their future civilian career meaning this means you can use those GII bill benefits while still earning your active through paycheck. it’s a great deal for members.

Thanks for watching!

👋 About Me 👋

My Social Accounts:

Video Editing by Tweaky Tales

[james-wyc]

Every veteran on here understands and empathizes with Jared when he says its because its the VA.

[smokedrumi]

This is actually perfect timing, I wanted to use my gi bill to become a pilot

[Pilot_Ralph]

I used a few months of my GI Bill for a portion of my Instrument Rating at a part 141 school.

Update: The flight school does not have to be a University, just have a 141 program and be registered with the VA.

[GregLopes]

I’m active duty military, getting close to retiring and looking at aviation for my next career. The VA website says that the only way to use your GI Bill for flight training is:
-if you already have a PPL
-if you have a 2nd class medical certificate, or a 1st class medical certificate to pursue an ATP certificate.
Most people just quickly see this as a dead end and don’t think about getting flight training through a college. So if the college that you’re attending has an aviation program that includes flight training classes which are covered by the cost of tuition, the VA doesn’t view it as paying for flight training. They just view it as paying for college tuition, which the GI Bill was designed to do. The one caveat might be that the college might need to offer a degree program in aviation, since I think that the GI Bill wants you to use your benefits to work towards a specific degree. They don’t want you using your benefits to just take random classes with no degree track.

Anyway, TLDR, you can totally get the GI Bill to pay for a PPL, but only if it’s through a college that offers flight instruction. Really good info in this video!

[cmo_kky]

Just keep in mind for the older veterans…

If your service ended before January 1, 2013, your Post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) benefits will expire 15 years after your last separation date from active service. You must use all of your benefits by that time or you’ll lose whatever’s left.

If your service ended on or after January 1, 2013, your benefits won’t expire thanks to a law called the Forever GI Bill - Harry W. Colmery Veterans Educational Assistance Act.

[jpablo]

Guys. I NEEDED this information so bad! I’ve just recently done my first discovery flight for my 26th birthday. Currently serving since 2018. Never used my educational benefits because I started making great money as a civilian. Now I’m interested in flying and want to use army to pay for it. But EVERYWHERE I look says “no” or “at least 10% disability as a vet”. This video here finally pointed in the right direction. Thanks guys !

[Avr-Lamar]

I watched this video.

RTAG is great resource for military and veterans that want to become a pilot. Not only with GI-Bill and VR&E resources, but also those navigating medicals with VA Disability Ratings.

The key to the PPL covered is that the CFIs have to be paid as employees of the college. The PPL is Part-61 and the rest of the certificates are Part-141.

I’m currently enrolled in an aviation degree program and only go to the college 3-4 times per semester to attend a safety briefing or for simulator time. All of my flight training is done at a flight school that has an agreement with the college, and all my other classes are completed online.

100% of my training is covered, in addition to receiving another $2400 per month in a housing per-diem. So yes, you can actually make money while earning your flight certificates.

PPL check-ride is Sunday. Then onto IFR.

[jacobd.powell]

I have been looking for this video for months! Thank you! Getting medically retired here soon at a young age and am looking to do just this.

[Barstool_cub_driver]

I have an entire video on this that actually shows you how to find the flight schools, what benefits to use, when to use it, and how to get the flight training OUTSIDE of a university.

[christopherlove]

Thank you so much for doing this interview, Trent! It was definitely beneficial to me.

[paulchapman]

Hey Trent, thank you for having this discussion! Great video

[Hikona_Sims]

Thanks for this! I have been digging for the past month on how to use my GI bill and I’m glad I’m on the right track. I recently found UND Phoenix has a 2 year degree program and they also have scholarships specifically for vets to cover your ppl.

[kdharley]

Great interview. I am 67 and do have a pacemaker but I would think that is better then having heart problems and could pass out but the pacemaker just makes sure that won’t happen so I am going to look into a pilot program at my local Community College that has a program. The VA stopped the flying program just as I was getting out of the service and had the Montgomery GI bill which didn’t allow flight training but now being a 100% disabled Veteran I can get this paid for with my benefits but I will fight for any problems with the medical. Flying has been my dream forever and did have 10 hours years ago but family is why I stopped. Your interview gives me new hope so thank you both.

[aorton]

Great info here. There is a lot of nuance to how this works and it’s hard to get all the information you want in one place.

[JaliylLynn]

It's definitely on the VA website.

[RabbitHoleAdventures]

A link in the description to the website that he is referencing would be helpful.

Thanks for the video!

[toastycheese]

You’ve definitely helped your one person 🙏

[dylancote]

This is the greatest thing ever! Thank you so much!

[fergiy]

The VA website is referring to "Flight Training" like the stand-alone flight schools (Part 61/141), NOT a college program. Two different things. If veterans want free pilot training (PPL -> CFII), that's through the GI Bill with a degree conferring program through a university. Look up schools with aviation programs, call that school's VRO (Veteran Resource Office) and ask if their aviation students are using GI Bill money to get their licenses. They deal with this stuff every single semester, they'll know. The VA will pay for all fees at a public university, if the school places those fees in the appropriate category that the VA likes. It all depends on whether or not the university allocates those flight fees to where the GI Bill will pay for them. Most programs are VA approved. The flight fee allocation is the primary issue with a program accepting GI Bill money. Schools that all of a sudden "lose" VA funding probably broke the "85/15" rule.

[gamingodriscoll]

I honestly believe the reason this isn’t super known about is because the VA doesn’t want to give the benefit to a whole bunch of people only to those who research it and find it will be able to use it