I only gave nearby activities a 3 because Im no longer there, therefore there is now a lack of activities. haha

Instructors are very knowledgeable. Just got new enroute and terminal sims. enroute sims are pretty much exactly whats used in real life. I believe the terminal ones are as well.

Curriculum is one of the best you can get (the best) in the country. biggest factor is actual non-radar and radar simulation for enroute.

Price is ok being as it is a community college. But of course they find a way to stiff you if you live out of state. PA says they wont give you residency if your sole purpose of moving to the state is for school. So if you live in the county tuition is like 80/ cr/hr. In the state its like 160 cr/hr. and out of state its like 240 cr/hr. after fees and stuff every 10 credits for an out of state student runs over 3000. You must obtain your private pilots license either before or during your time at the school. if you do it at the school you get screwed pretty bad by the monopoly of the flight school and the state.
last time i checked it was 150+ per hour of flying. When you live in PA though, you get a 40% bonus to anything you put into your flight account to pay for flying. so whenever you deposit 1000 at the school to pay for flying, the state matches 400 for you for free. lucky pennsylvanians. if you dont live in PA i would recommend trying to get your Private before you go to school, because of the enormous cost difference and because if you have your Privates before starting school you can test out of your first semester of classes which is basically kinda like ground school. This will save you time and money. Those that live in PA could also want to go this route if time permits, if not they still get the discount on flying and tuition that would make up some of the cost difference. it is usually nice either way to be able to test out of the first semester of class.

Curriculum: The program is great. It certainly prepared me for everything I've seen in the FAA thus far. It's also the only CTI school that uses a live tower. The tower has a D-Brite but its all VFR work with the radar handled by PIT. You leave Beaver with a CTO if you enroll in their terminal program. The checkout is done by controllers who come up from PIT for the day. As of summer 08 they have brand new simulators for the approach lab and the enroute lab. The tower is scheduled for renovation in the winter of 08. The program takes 4 semesters. If you come with a Private Pilot License you only need 3 semesters worth. They run them back to back meaning the summer semester isn't skipped. You go straight through until your done... nice and fast.

Price: As it is a community college, the price is dirt cheap compared to the outrageous price you pay at most other CTI schools, even out-of-state.

Teaching Staff: The staff is made up of several retired controllers, some of which cycle back and forth between Beaver and the FAA Academy. They're great. I only gave them a 4 because they occasionally have to use recent graduates or lab aides to teach a class who basically just teach out of the book and can't apply personal experience.

Nearby Activities: Western PA is no fun. Around the airport where CCBC has their aviation building, there are only a few hole-in-the-wall bars. Pittsburgh is about 25 minutes down the road so its not a complete wash. 3 stars.

Summary: Overall, I was very happy with Beavers CTI program. Its the fastest and cheapest and with all new sims, a renovated tower cab, and great instructors its easily one of the top CTI schools in the country. I waited 2 years to get in. While I was there the waiting list was up to 3 years with a hold put on the list. Last I heard they were taking more names, but at the time of my review, CCBC had the most views on StuckMic of any CTI school. The demand is huge. Call soon! You won't regret it.

a) The curriculum is outstanding. All of the simulators are brand new and the same type used at OKC. All terminal students work in the Beaver County Tower for 8 months and graduate with a CTO plus facility rating. The training is very practical and hands-on, which can be finished in a year.
Enroute students learn the same maps that are taught in OKC.
b) I moved to Beaver County in order to became a resident before attending, so I only paid 86 dollars per credit. For me, it was worth it, but even out-of-state tuition is reasonable.
c) In general, the teaching staff is composed of retired controllers. There are a few class taught by recent graduates, but will soon be replaced by retired controllers from PIT.
d) Pittsburgh is 25 miles away... if you like sports

Suggestion: If you really want to be an Air Traffic Controller, go to CCBC. Don't waste your time on expensive tuition and gen-ed courses that the other institutions require. (Also, CCBC students tend to get hired quickly.) In 2000, CCBC claimed that 100% of its graduates had received offers.
PM me if you have any questions

1) Curriculum is top notch. They set the standards high (as they should be) but they give you every tool necessary to succeed. They have disciplinary policies that are very congruent with the FAA and try to maintain a professional environment from start to finish. Plus, getting 6 months of tower experience is great.

2) Community College pricing for credit hours is great. A two year program also saves you a lot by giving you the same education in half the time of other schools.

I got my Private at Moore Aviation, which is one of the on-field flight schools that cater to CCBC students. Their instructors are very knowledgable and make flying fun. Your safety is always their first priority. That being said, the inclimate weather that plagues the area from OCT - March makes it difficult to complete your flying in a timely manner. Unless you can fly between april and september, you may want to get your private before attending CCBC.

3) For the most part, the staff and Instructors at CCBC are the best I have ever seen. The ATC Coordinator / Instructor (Jim Scott), instructor (Bob Campbell), and the tower manager (Wayne Ressitar) are all awesome. The amount of experience and expertise is great. Also, the office manager (Peggy Leibert) is an incredible resource.

However, no school is perfect. There were 1 or 2 instructors that I would have rather not had..... "You know what I mean"....?

4) Besides a few good places to eat (e.g., Sals, Front Door Tavern, Bowsers, and Zooky's), it's Beaver County. If you are looking for a non-stop party school, you should not attend CCBC. Of course that probably means that you don't have what it takes to be an air traffic controller anyway. It can get a little boring in Beaver County but you will only be there for 16 months and it is worth every bit of it.

Really great, very intensive program. Only 2 year college that I know of. Live tower, and private pilot license does help with the career. Not far from Pittsburgh. Controllers teach most of the classes and it's a great learning environment if you want to succeed, most of the teachers will even give you one on one time because the classes are smaller near the end.

They drug test, schedule the ATSAP for you, and you get a CTO. Pilot license also gives you points in your employment later on.

I loved CCBC. The staff is amazing! Most of the staff are retired controllers from KPIT. They expect you to know a lot, but as someone else said, they give you every tool to succeed. The people who did not succeed didn't put forth effort. You need to achieve an 80% in each class to get a school recommendation. And even if you got a 79% in the instrument class, it's a no-go, know what I mean? Also, they NO LONGER give you a CTO. Apparently, the guy who signed off on CTO's no longer wanted the liability of doing so when people only worked in the tower for 8 months. But I still went to the school knowing this. It's still worth it to work live traffic!!! Jim Scott and Wayne Ressetar are amazing and if you want any insight or help, talk to them. There isn't much to do, but meet people from class, and go to the bars. Backdoor on Mondays, Applebees Wednesdays, Sals Thursdays, Kelly's is cool too. I was out-of-state and paid about $15,000 to go there. Take the WX class! You become a certified weather observer. Then you get to make observations and that's always cool. They do schedule the ATSAT for you and they WILL randomly drug test those who work in the tower! I'm not 100% sure, but I think due to budget cuts, they might no longer drug test the enroute people. But they will drug test you terminal people! All in all, great school. Working traffic (instead of reading about it) gives this school an edge, I think!

The instructor are TOP notch! This isn't one of those schools where they open the book, and read word for word, (err, some parts of the program do this, BUT its a total necessity to know these things word for word). I am kind of sad they ditched the CTO rating in the tower, but it is a good training tool, especially once you hit the academy. The sims for both Terminal & Enroute are stunning. Renovated in 2008, they offer almost identical (there are differences of course) to the real world. Oh, there is not much to do around the aviation campus, so bring Xbox. To give you a reference of how big the actual town is, you can fly over the main part of it, in about 15 seconds in a Piper Warrior. Finally, if you don't have your pilots license, DO NOT GET IT BEFORE YOU ATTEND! Starting next year (I think) they are doing away with the skip the first semester of pilot training. They put a lot of effort into training and they use a step by step approach to training. Probably 85% of the flight schools do not put this much effort into their ground school, so when you get your license (Private or Recreational) you have a much better understanding of flying, systems, and general aviation as a whole. I do give the school 5 stars overall. HIGHLY recommend this program (I'm still here, I'll always say 'Hello".

CCBC is a stand alone CTI program. i graduated in the fall of 2011 and it was worth every penny. the intructors are mostly retired air traffic controllers, and many are from PIT. if you attend this school you will sail through the faa academy at OKC, since the radar simulators and the classes mirror the Faa academy. The control tower experience will place you at the front of the line with confidence. since you are talking and working REAL air traffic. Cant say enough good things about the place, and since its close to pittsburgh there is plenty to do on the weekends between working in the control tower and studying!

Great sims, great instructors, great place.