a) if a 2 year degree give you the same job and same promotion potential as a 4 year degree, might as well take the faster and less expensive option.

b) CCBC is the only of the CTI schools that graduates you with your Control Tower Operator’s certificate, which is the professional certification in ATC. When you graduate you can work for a non fed tower and gain experience while you wait for the FAA to process you which those without their CTOs cannot do and if you get selected for a terminal by the FAA that is one less test you have to take at the FAA academy which frees up more time to study other things.

c) CCBC is the only CTI school with a functioning control tower that terminal concentration students operate and they all end up with their CTO’s plus a facility rating. Imagine going to the FAA academy to learn the ins and outs of working a tower having already been doing that for 8 months while most of the other people in your academy class have never been inside a tower cab. Makes a HUGE difference. For instance, the CTI school my BS is from trained CTI students in ATC via a computer network where they played an ATC simulator. Meanwhile here, ATC students are coordinating the departure of a King Air with Pittsburgh over the phone and clearing Lear Jets to land.

d) If you don’t get terminal concentration (the assignment is pretty arbitrary now as applications far out strip class capacity. Concentration doesn’t determine where they actually place you. FE a couple of my friends went en route concentration and the FAA assigned then to towers) you’ll go enroute / ARTCC concentration. Nobody who has made it out of CCBC’s en route concentration has ever failed out of the academy or washed out of their facility even if assigned to towers which should give you a good indication of how much you’ll learn there.

My only complaint is they require all ATC students to get their private pilot certificate. I think it is a good idea overall, but the company the school contracts flight training out of is vastly more expensive than anything I’ve ever seen in 7 plus years of flying. Plus the weather here isn’t conducive to flying so you’ll be engaged in flight training here for your duration. My suggestion is to apply, call Mr Scott who handles applications monthly at least, tell him you’re available to take a newly vacated spot on very short notice. While you’re waiting, learn to fly to avoid the hassle and increased cost while you’re here in class, take general college courses (english, math, science etc) to lessen what you have to do while here.

Best of luck.