Originally Posted by
Iowa Farm Boy
I have FO's that claim to have $150K student loans to ERAU. I have no reason to doubt their claim, but I do doubt the logic of such a debt load for the pay/ jobs offered. I honestly don't know how you service that much debt on Regional FO pay, or for that matter on any Regional pay. By the time you pay rent, groceries, utilities, and interest on the note is there anything left
I guess if you and your family live in your parents basement until you're on mainline 3rd year pay maybe it works. But is it really worth it? I paid for my flight training cash, and yes it did take a little longer but I'm convinced being debt free is the only way to survive this "career."
It's crazy to go past $100k in educational costs for anything but a few high paying fields like trauma doctor or personal injury lawyer and yet Embry Riddle/similar turn out pilots with a $150k tab every year by the thousands. This makes it obvious there is some source of cash other than the job itself paying for all that, and that money is not the only perceived form of value received from the job or else there is simply a false idea what the low end regional salaries are. So in short, these pilots who make $25k towing a $1,000 a month bank loan clearly can't be paying it. Their families are, because banks will not approve education loans that are excessive. Maybe the thing to do is make sure the families know what they are getting their kids who want to be airline pilots into rather than targeting the pilot students themselves. We know the latter don't listen to good advice, maybe the parents have some sense.