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Embry-Riddle is easy to get into for students who can pay $1,050 per trimester, plus flight fees that can top $20,000 over four years. It is not so easy to stay in; only 65% of those entering survive to earn a degree. So high is the FAA'S confidence in the school's instructors that the agency allows faculty to give and grade most of the Government's flying examinations; E-RAU maintenance instructors double as officially appointed FAA examiners, subject only to agency spot checks.
Since the school first opened in Daytona in 1965, Embry-Riddle students have logged 600,000 hours in the air with only six deaths. Says President Jack Hunt: "We've had three times that many die in motorcycle accidents."