Originally Posted by
hockeypilot44
This is true. It was one thing to take out a loan you never intended to pay back (most of the DCI Academy, Gulfstream pilots). Now banks don't give loans as easily for flight training. The money has to come from somewhere. It's a lot harder to make the dumb investment when the bank forces the pilot in training to come up with the money some other way.
Don't discount one huge pot of money for flight training. Tons of ex mil use GI bills to finance flight training while getting degrees. I know one particular university whose flight program was majority ex mil using GI bills and foreign students whose government footed the bill. Not very many average Joe Schmoe college kids whose parents were paying for everything. Most of those guys quit after they realized it was not fun having to work somewhat hard to get ratings at an astronomical cost, with a dismal ROI, and having to take classes at the same time. Don't know if that is representative of the larger aviation university population or not.