NATA joined a recent coalition of aviation stakeholders advocating for higher federal loan limits for students in qualified flight training programs. In comments submitted to the Department of Education, 45 aviation associations, businesses, and educational institutions asked for regulatory clarification that undergraduate and FAA-certificated part 141 flight training programs are “professional degrees” qualified for new, higher lifetime borrowing caps included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). Existing U.S. Code ties a professional degree to professional licensure and a level of skill beyond that required for a bachelor’s degree. Clarifying that qualified flight training programs fall within that definition would allow their students to access higher loan limits, enabling them to complete the costly training required for them to enter the pilot workforce.
“This is not a request for new authority or special treatment,” the coalition wrote. “It is a narrowly tailored clarification that aligns longstanding regulatory language with the realities of pilot education and training and supports the nation’s economic competitiveness. These students—and the communities that will ultimately rely on them for air service—deserve equitable access to the same federal tools already available to peers in other professions that require professional licensure and advanced training beyond a bachelor’s degree.”
