College has lost over a million dollars in tuition; may pay out hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, if it loses lawsuit; public kept in the dark; it’s time for transparency and facts
Yavapai Community College has an aviation program it operates with partners Guidance Aviation and North-Aire, both corporations located at the Prescott, Arizona airport. Despite a lawsuit that has dragged on for almost six years and a huge loss of tuition when the Veterans Administration changed its funding rules, there have been no detailed reports provided by President Penelope Wills about the program’s problems and progress toward resolving issues such as attendance, drop-out rate, student recruitment, in addition to the status of the six-year whistle blower lawsuit.
According to the College, it anticipated losing about $1 million dollars in tuition from the aviation program beginning in 2017 because of new Veterans Administration enrollment regulations. Whether it lost that much, and whether the loss is continuing, remains a mystery from the public and the Governing Board.
Moreover, the long drawn-out whistle-blower lawsuit brought by the former director of the aviation program has already cost thousands of dollars in attorney fees and may result in thousands of dollars of additional fees and costs being paid the plaintiff if he wins the lawsuit in federal court.
The College has refused or ignored providing either the Governing Board or the public any information about the program or the lawsuit. There has been virtually no detailed information given the public or the Governing Board about the program, its enrollment, problems etc. The last update from president Wills about the lawsuit was over a year ago.
Over the past several years, the District Governing Board has never looked into the aviation program in any depth or asked any serious questions about how it is being run. The following is a simple list of questions that one would have expected the Governing Board to ask in light of the problems with this program.
- Why does the Community College have an aeronautical program at all when Embry-Riddle University has a robust one?
- Why does the Community College change $525 per credit hour for those teaching this course when general tuition is less than $100 for all other students? Is it because the VA will pay the fee rather than the actual cost of teaching the courses?
- Is the flight training program realistically available to students whose tuition cannot be paid by the Veterans Administration? If not, is it meeting the purpose of the community college operating such a program?
- In 2016 the Administration told the College that it was projecting that it would lose $1 million in tuition in 2017 because of a decline in enrollment in the aviation program. Is it continuing to lose a million or more each year when compared to 2015-16 enrollment?
- There was a suggestion a couple years ago that the College or its partners search for foreign students to build enrollment in the program. Has the College and/or its partners attempted to do this? How successful have they been?
- How much does the College estimate has been paid out (or charged) by the numerous attorneys that have been defending the College and various parties since 2012 whistle-blower lawsuit? One person close to the lawsuit claims that Guidance Aviation may have already paid or been billed over a million dollars in attorney fees.(Blog could not confirm this amount.)
- How much money may be paid out if the College from its trust insurance paid for by taxpayers if it loses the whistle-blower case in federal court? (Speculation by some is that the insurance/trust fund could pay out millions of dollars if lawsuit is successful on one count alone.)
- How does the College and its partners make the aviation programs available to potential students living in Sedona and the Verde Valley, if it does?
At a minimum, these areas should be explored and information provided the District Governing Board and the public. It is time for transparency.