There needs to be some accountability with these schools and lenders. Exactly who is telling the students "how the industry really is"? Everyone loves to say (in hindsight): "do you research!", but exactly how? There is no real mechanism for this. Recruiters tell students and parents what they want to hear, they don't always outright "lie", but they leave out some of the information and are not realistic. The industry wants to keep their flow of pilots coming, pilots at career fairs and during industry presentations are tippie-toeing for fear of making their employers mad, as well as when they get furloughed or finally move on, because you never know when you're going to have to right back to working for that crappy airline due to the instability of the industry. This makes the "do your research" line one of the most jacka$$ things we can say to anyone. It's just not realistic that people in that group can make the best decisions, and if they mess up, it's with them for sometimes the rest of their life! All because someone lied to them and there was a vacuum of real information?
There needs to be some accountability. I bet when the lenders start losing money they get wise REAL quick and stop giving out the money like candy. Then we can ensure that the institutions meet certain standards, performance targets, and so on. Heck, if the student declares bankruptcy, then go after the school! Why did they let someone of that caliber in the school in the first place? Lets build some damn accountability into the system. The goal isn't to allow any and everyone to discharge their loans, it's to somehow put a stop to the lack of accountability that schools and recruiters have. If it's ok for the airlines to go bankrupt and discharge, it should be ok for students too.