I have a Master's of Science degree in a "hard" science/STEM field, two patents (on which I still earn licensing fees), and 3 papers published in peer-reviewed science journals.

As I've conveyed on this thread before--the historical impression of Mesa as a bunch of rednecks with GEDs was formulated based on the last decade, particularly Air Midwest and CC Air. And the handful of low-brow forebears hired out of Appalachia in the 1990s now make up only a small fraction of our seniority list--a bulk of the new hires I have met in the last 18 months have been highly successful individuals with bachelor's, solid business/professional experience in software/consulting/engineering, or people who have flown 135/corporate/jumped ship from other regionals.

On top of that, after several years in academia and high-level biopharma R&D, I can safely say that higher education credentials are not purely correlated with competence, intelligence, and professionalism.