If that's the case, than I would recommend NOT going to a regional airline. I am single, no kids, and have no debt. I also came into my first year here at SkyWest with about $10k in savings. I pay about $500/mo for rent, and try to live as frugally as possible. With all of that, it looks like I will be able to make it through this first year without going into debt (which I will NOT do, I'd quit and do something else before that happens). If you have no savings and a family, you really need to think about doing something else, or you are going to be ABSOLUTELY miserable and probably financially ruined at the end of your first year.

Before I even interviewed here, I built an Excel spreadsheet with all of my monthly expenses, and planned on min guarantee for reserve at first year pay. I did this even though everybody told me I'd probably have a line pretty quick, because you NEVER know what this industry will do.

Fortunately I am making more money here than I planned on, and got a composite line a few weeks after IOE. But I sure wouldn't count on that, because if you do get stuck on reserve in some base you don't want to move to, your expenses will not work out well for you.