A bill sponsored by state Senators Raj Mukherji (D-33) and Vincent Polistina (R-2) creating an Air Traffic Controller Loan Redemption Program was signed into law by outgoing Gov. Phil Murphy (D).
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“Our student loan redemption programs have proven to be incredibly valuable in drawing high-quality candidates to in-need fields,” Murphy said in a statement.
“I am pleased to add the Air Traffic Controller Loan Redemption Program to our repertoire of existing student loan relief programs to help bolster this critical workforce.”
Bill S-4432 would establish a program in the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education to provide grants to a public institution of higher education for certain aviation and aircraft control-related initiatives.
” … Despite the critical shortages of controllers both in our region and across the nation, not a single New Jersey college currently participates in the FAA’s Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative program, the primary pipeline for producing and retaining new air traffic controllers,” Mukherji added.
The program would provide for the redemption of a portion of the qualifying student loan amounts for each period of service at an airport located within the State or operated by a multi-state agency serving the State.
These portions would amount to 16 percent of the program participant’s qualifying student loan amounts in return for one full year of service at an approved site, and increase incrementally to encompass 100 percent of a participant’s loan amounts until their fourth full year of service.
The total amount of loan redemption under the program, however, would not exceed $100,000 per participant.
To be eligible to participate in the program, an applicant is required to be a resident of New Jersey, be employed as an air traffic controller at an approved site, and submit an application produced by HESAA.
The bill would also establish a program in OSHE to incentivize universities to provide clear and better pathways for students looking to become ATCs.
This program would provide grants to a public institution of higher education for multiple purposes, allowing the institution to participate in the federal Air Traffic-Collegiate Training Initiative, establish non-engineering aviation degrees that include instruction in air traffic control and aviation administration, and establish a center to study drones.
“Importantly, this bill is also making it possible for New Jersey researchers to contribute to the growing body of scientific scholarship around UAPs, especially in light of credible reports of objects moving faster than the speed of sound without a sonic boom,” Mukherji also said.
“We should be humble enough, as a species, to recognize that we don’t know what we don’t know – and not arrogant enough to assume we are the only sentient beings in the universe. In any event, encouraging rigorous study of these phenomena – an area of increasing national attention – is both intellectually honest and essential for aviation safety.”
