Is The SCSU Aviation Department Expensive?

ST. CLOUD, MINN. – Supporters of the St. Cloud State University Aviation Program are taking argument with University President Potter who said, “Accreditors noted the deficiency of the curriculum and, for two years, no progress was made.” That’s an odd statement to make considering the fact that AABI, the accrediting team, didn’t audit the SCSU Aviation Department until July 2009. That means they didn’t examine SCSU’s curriculum until that time.

An examination of costs show that SCSU doesn’t own a single plane, even though they are not the most expensive equipment students use. The flight simulators might be, but SCSU didn’t pay for the simulators. Student fees paid 90% of the cost of the newest simulator, which cost approximately $100,000. Likewise, SCSU does not pay for the flight time students buy. SCSU pays for the professors and staff of the Aviation Department and nothing else.

During the 2010-2011 school year, the total amount spent on four fulltime professors and four adjunct professors was $275,499. That isn’t a big investment for SCSU considering the fact that there’s a substantial, lengthy worldwide airline pilot shortage. Chancellor Steve Rosenstone once said this: “Changes in workforce needs are coming like a freight train, and we are very quickly going to go from high unemployment to ‘Where are the workers?’”

SCSU supporters are wondering, then, why Chancellor Rosenstone has not reversed President Potter’s decision to eliminate SCSU’s Aviation Department.

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