I took your advice and googled Pete Fernandez. Great guy and an amazing pilot, but that "lowly high school graduate" was essentially forced to retire from the USAF because of academics. Dude never took college-level math, cheated on a calculus exam while in test pilot school, and then his career was **** canned for academic dishonesty. Great example (as in, worst ever) of what high school grads should aspire to, Ronjo.

There are plenty of amazing pilots without college degrees. I'm a military guy retiring and transitioning to the airlines (hopefully) and I can say without a doubt I've seen a lot of highly skilled army aviators without college degrees over the last twenty years, many of whom instructed and mentored west pointers. Getting a degree doesn't make you a better pilot or person. With that said, a lot of airlines want you to have a degree. Why not just do it and get it over with? You can get an online bachelors in a STEM field (or basket weaving) from several very good brick and mortar schools (Arizona State, Oregon State, University of Maryland, London School of Economics, to name a few). An online BSc in Mathematics from the London School of Economics, even as an American student, costs about $12,000 USD total and takes 3-4 years part time via correspondence courses. An enlisted guy in my squadron did it, went to OCS and is in flight school right now. Just get it over with instead of raging about how unfair it is.