Moral Hazard. It's alive and well, my friends.

For those who are reading these posts and thinking of perusing a career in the flight deck:

To make it to a major airline, you will need a bachelor degree of some sort. That can be accomplished on the cheap (community college transfer to four-year, smart class/major planning, etc.) or you can blow you cash at a private school on the five-year plan partying three days a week in the frat or sorority.

Add to that your pilot certificates. Again, there are expensive options and paths that offer the least financial resistance. You'll need at least your commercial multi and your CFI.

Assuming you graduate in four years with your commercial multi and CFI, you'll probably instruct, among other things, for a few years before you get your first airline or 135 gig. While building time and the resume, you won't make a ton of money. Same for the first year at the airlines or a decent 135 shop...you won't be rolling in the dough. Plan accordingly, and that brings me to the statement I made at the beginning of the post.

Your student loans don't know your ability to repay them. They won't guarantee on the investment you have put fourth. The lenders don't examine your career plans when you take the loans out. Industry hiccups (age 65) and the economy (derivative securities, anyone?) can flatten out the demand for pilots overnight, and that will prolong career advancement.

This career isn't worth going into six-figure debt over. That debt isn't sustainable while making $20 to $30K a year as a CFI or first-year FO. Even once you move up the pay scales, paying off that amount of debt is going to take a hit against other financial moves you'll want to make. Some of us have made our bed in the middle of an ocean of debt; some of us were lucky, or maybe smart, and worked out a plan to keep stuff on the cheap and made it work.

Be wise. Really think about how you're going to make this all work financially, and don't plan on some government loan repayment loophole working to make it all manageable down the road.