How much Charter Flight Cost

Associated Press demanded documentation from tens of government colleges and found that at least 20 have their own or shared airplanes for the education market and often employ some full-time pilot to pilot them. Lots of others charter chartered privately-owned airlines. The flight records show that the aeroplanes are temporarily used for nonuniversity use.

Ohio State Unversity, which rents one airplane and sometimes has another, soccer trainer Urban Meyer and members of his familiy undertook 11 face-to-face journeys last year, among them a holiday in Florida, a week-end trip to Cape Cod and a summer holiday in South Carolina. Cost of the university: $120,000.

If Meyers 15 recruitment journeys in the same aircraft during this time are added, the cost rises to more than 350,000 dollars. A number of privately owned universities, which are not governed by open record legislation, also have their own aircraft. Universities are defending the cost and saying that trainers and top admins need to move more than ever, while airline companies offer fewer departures.

"Student pay for it or tax payers pay for it, and it's usually the students," said Richard Vedder, an Economist and Executive Vice President of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity in Washington, D.C. Universities often use airplanes for competitive recruitment, mainly for soccer and basketball, as well as to shuttles admins traveling to advertising sponsors or lobbying legislators.

Several of the country's biggest colleges, such as the Penn State and the University of Texas, own aircraft, as do many smaller colleges, such as the University of Wyoming and the University of Central Missouri. As a rule, the cost of a personal aircraft ranges in the million and climbs up to the $8.4 million that the University of Florida Athletics Federation in 2011 spent on an eight-passenger aircraft.

There are then running costs like gasoline and servicing that cost at Ohio State $1. 6 million last year. Every flight often costs more than $1,000 per incident, far more than a normal flight. For example, Purdue University sent a plane to Providence, Rhode Island, last year to fetch alumni and former NFL Linesman Mattes Light to Indianapolis for an athletes session and then fly him back, at a cost of $15,000.

Comercial flights between these towns usually cost less than $400 return. University of Kansas Registrar and two employees were airlifted to the NCAA Louisville, Kentucky baseball event for $10,000 last year. University of Tennessee officers routine between Knoxville and Nashville, a journey of less than three hour.

"Our executives' dedication to their work is so precious that the use of the aircraft is certainly justified," said Ron Maples, Tennessee University of Tennessee Temporary Treasury Secretary. He added that the school's annual flight expenses, about $700,000, "hardly represent an increase" in the overall household budgets. The cost of chartering a flight can also increase rapidly.

Minnesota University does not own a jet, but last year invested $2.9 million in charter air travel. As for some colleges, Ohio State included, say personal contributions and sports revenues are paying for them. However, at many, such as Kansas and Tennessee, they are backed by budgets involving study fees and control bucks.

Privately owned air travel has also become an advantage in winning buses. The University of Oklahoma and Ohio State provides top trainers and their host family with annual portions of flight time that can be used for holidays and other face-to-face travel. At Ohio State, three trainers at Ohio exceeded $220,000 in face-to-face tours last year, record show, with destinations including Las Vegas and Marco Island, Florida.

College say they periodically check their flight records to watch for abuse, but some sign trip information from the general public. What's more, they do not have a record of the flight. Speaking at the University of South Florida, Lara Wade said the flight protocols for the school's airplane do not need to be approved because the airplane is in the possession of an external corporation.

The Penn State said it owned two aircraft that were used by high-ranking officers but would not make available record keeping because the schools are mostly exempted from the state's law of official disclosures. Some universities are adding aircraft, others are rescaling or rethinking their flight programmes. The University of Minnesota last year found that Richard Pitino, the men's baseball trainer, had exceeded his charter flight budgets by more than $200,000 over three years.

Meanwhile, the college has appointed a new sports manager, some of whose responsibilities will be to reduce the size of the team. Last year Steven Leath, president of Iowa State College, confirmed that he used a training airplane for travel mixing private and college operations, a practise that came to the surface after damaging the airplane in a rough land.

The Iowa State has agreed to resell an aircraft and is considering whether to use another aircraft. Others say that they just have little need for personal aircraft. University of California in Los Angeles sometimes charts sport team charter trips, but not for recruitment or business trips. "Buying a personal jet doesn't necessarily benefit our students and athletes," said speaker Tod Tamberg.