By NANCY BEAN FOSTER
Union Leader Correspondent
NASHUA -- News that Daniel Webster College's aviation program will be scrapped when the current round of freshmen graduate rocked the campus yesterday and sent reverberations through aviation schools around the country.
At 9 a.m., an e-mail circulated around campus informing everyone of a meeting of students, faculty and staff, said one staff member who refused to give her name. At a 10 a.m. meeting, Daniel Webster President Nadine Dowling announced that the school's aviation program would be phased out when the current freshman class graduates.
"Effective immediately," said a press release from Dowling's office, "Daniel Webster College is no longer offering the Aviation Flight Operatons (AFO) bachelor of science program to new students.
"The college will continue to offer the program to all students who are currently enrolled. These students will have an opportunity to complete and graduate from the program within the normal time frame for completion," the press release said.
But by noon yesterday, many of the aviation students at Daniel Webster had already begun contacting other schools, hoping to transfer to a new school for next year.
Gil Martin, 19, of Massachusetts said he had already been in touch with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida to see if he could renew the acceptance he received from the school during his senior year in high school.
"The problem is that our instructors are going to start looking for new jobs. They have to if they know this school is going to close. And when they leave, this program is going to suffer," Martin said.
"We love our instructors," said Casey Monahan, 18, of Connecticut, "but we know they can't just sit around here twiddling their thumbs. They have to take care of themselves and their families."
Monahan said he was on the phone with other schools, including Embry-Riddle and Florida Institute of Technology, yesterday morning, trying to determine his options for next year before all the available slots are taken.
Bob Ross, spokesman for Embry-Riddle, said that school administrators learned yesterday morning of Daniel Webster's plan to scrap the aviation program and have been fielding calls from some Daniel Webster students since.
"We're meeting to discuss the impact of this decision on Embry-Riddle tomorrow (Thursday)," Ross said.
For Greg Poulin, 19, of Manchester, it makes more sense to leave the program at Daniel Webster now than to wait.
"Nobody wants a diploma from a school that doesn't exist," he said.
Poulin said the reason given for the closure of the aviation program in the closed-door meeting yesterday morning was funding, and it was explained to the students that the cost to attend the school was too high compared with the potential salaries they could make as pilots after graduating.
"But what they didn't take into consideration is our passion," Martin said. "We're not going into this profession just for the money. We're doing it because we love to fly."
ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit educational corporation based in Carmel, Ind., announced the purchase of the non-profit 1,200 student Daniel Webster College on April 23, 2009, for $20.9 million.
The school was reportedly facing $23 million in debt.
By August 2009, ITT had fired college president Robert Myers and laid-off more than 20 employees.
Neither ITT nor Daniel Webster College would comment about the future plans for the Nashua school.
