Free Maintenance Tuition, With a Catch

In January, the Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM) hit on a unique solution to the problem of retaining student technicians: free tuition. When it opened its Oakland Airport campus earlier this year, AIM offered free tuition, a $36,000 value, to the first class of 25 students. The catch? Students had to graduate. Anyone who dropped out before the end of training would have to pay for any training ...