This is a huge pet peeve of mine, how can you argue that you deserve more money and at the same time claim you need less education than what is already required?
Requiring a college degree is not arbitrary, college is basically an extension of high school today. I honestly cannot think of an excuse for not having one. With the exception of about 3 or 4 degrees, college is not intended to be specific training for a job, its about learning how to think. The issue with obtaining a degree is the astronomical cost, not merit.
With all due respect sir, it is this thinking I believe that has caused college tuition to sky rocket and the purpose for which the institution was created to transform into a fashion statement . The idea that one has to go to college to learn how to think is IMHO a ridiculous notion. What has a student been doing from kindergarten to 12th grade? Mindlessly going through the motions of learning? I'm a college graduate and I honestly didn't learn much more than I already knew. I matured some but didn't get any smarter. The point here is that one should be able to think and rationalize just fine upon completion of high school and, college shouldn't be a requirement for flying an airliner. Fighter jet maybe....but even still that's questionable. Why is it that an infantryman doesn't have to have a college education but a fighter pilot does? Do you think that the moment one takes contact from the enemy, having a college education will have taught him how to think enough to win the fight?
Nope! What will it be then that helps him in that moment?
Training.and the same goes for the fighter pilot. Training and experience is king when it comes to flying an airplane not watered down college curriculum designed for suckers!
To the OP, I am not in the 121 world as of yet. Probably will be there soon as I will be interviewing in the coming weeks. I have observed that there are very few new domestic guys coming into flight training. The vast majority of students these days (from my experience) are foreign who will be returning home to fly.