Also the hard truth is that a 4-year degree is what a HS Diploma used to be. Having may not mean that much, but lack of one may raise flags...
Since a degree is mandatory or very helpful on so many roads to success, white-collar employers wonder why someone would NOT get a degree. They suspect you might have some sort of anti-social or anti-authority attitude. The guy who didn't go to school cuz he thought all those classes and teachers were full of BS might not respect a company's policies and regulations either.
There are of course folks with good reasons for not getting a degree, but lack of money is not one of them...there are enough loans, grants, scholarships available so that anyone who really wants a degree can get one.
This only applies to people pursuing white-collar work (yes that includes pilots...the job is blue-collar but the people who do it are mostly all white-collar). If you want to pursue a blue-collar trade, save your time and money for vo-tech and tools of the trade.