But what you are missing here is the way we all used to build time, rather than pay the "big bucks" to get hired at 300 hours are slowly drying up. The environment is very different from 10 or even 5 years ago. Mom and pop flight schools are shutting down all over the place due to lack of students and the increased cost of flying in general. These guys now are paying what it cost me for an instructor and the airplane for a mid 70s 172 DRY. Plus all the check operations have dried up. The few opportunities that are left are being targeted by regional airlines to create a pipeline for these college grads to build time for the restricted ATP. Plus some of the flight requirements for the ATP have increased as well. Building the 1500 hours was the easy part, but getting all the instrument, night, and XC could be difficult for a CFI.

Not saying I advocate going head over heels into debt for this job (I didn't). But going "the hard way" has gotten a hell of a lot harder due to the new ATP rule and the decreasing opportunities for time building jobs.