There could be some exceptions to that, such as if your degree is non-aviation, but closely involved with aviation. The perfect example is a meteorology degree, which I'm currently working on at Rutgers. Weather is a major part of flying, from sport pilot on up. In alot of ways, I use the stuff I learned in my meteo classes when I'm doing my weather planning. In general, a pilot with a meteorology degree is a great thing, as is a meteorologist who happens to have a pilots license. So if one gets furloughed they could take their meteorology degree and their years of real world piloting experience, and go into aviation meteorology, at a company like Meteorlogix, AccuWeather, etc. In general though, there are very very few degree fields that allow for that, and meteorology is a very difficult, math-intense major.