New Jersey officials have given three public colleges $3.5 million in state funding to train aviation professionals, amid a national shortage of certified air traffic controllers that has led to mounting safety concerns and flight delays.
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The state Office of the Secretary of Higher Education announced Tuesday that Kean University and Atlantic Cape Community College got $1.5 million each, and Warren County Community College received $500,000 under a grant program intended to grow New Jersey’s pipeline of aerospace professionals.
Those schools offer curricula aligned with the Federal Aviation Administration’s Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative, which gets graduates to on-the-job training faster by allowing them to bypass some standard FAA Academy requirements.
School administrators will use the money to expand aviation and aerospace programs.
Kean plans to create a new FAA-aligned bachelor of science degree in aviation management, expand its drone minor into a drone operations major, house a Center for the Study of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, create a similar center focused on drones at its Skylands campus, and partner with K-12 schools to develop a pre-college aviation and drone pipeline program, according to the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.
Atlantic Cape Community College plans to expand its FAA-aligned curriculum, add advanced simulation training, and expand teaching staff. Warren County Community College plans to develop an air traffic control certificate program and add an airport management and operations course.
“By supporting institutions to build programs and enhance training opportunities that feed into FAA certification pathways, we are developing routes into well-paying, stable careers for residents who will serve New Jersey and the nation over the decades to come,” Acting Secretary of Higher Education Margo Chaly said in a statement.
The funding came from former Gov. Phil Murphy’s final budget and was distributed last month.
The Trump administration announced a plan last year to “supercharge” hiring to reduce a shortage of 3,000 air traffic controllers nationally. The move came after a deadly air crash in Washington, D.C., and chaos from coast to coast, including at Newark Liberty International Airport.
The number of applicants spiked, but the shortage persists due to an increase in flights, high workforce attrition, difficult and lengthy training requirements, and the lingering impact of pandemic and government shutdowns, the U.S. Government Accountability Office found in January.
This story originally appeared on New Jersey Monitor.