Originally Posted by
FlyerJosh
Then most people with white collar jobs are working "hobbies". A lot of those so called "professionals" have student loans well into their 30's and 40's. Even after you pay off your bachelor's, many folks still need to obtain graduate degrees to continue up the food chain.
At what point exactly do you "overcome the cost of training and education"? When you earn more per year than you paid? When you have made more cumulatively than you paid? When you pay off all of your debt? At the end of the day, it's all subjective.
There is an opportunity cost to every career. Plumbers in my home town can hire on as an apprentice right out of high school and can be making 80K 5 years later.
Pilots spend at least four years in college then a small fortune on flight training. Some here have already mentioned that their student loan payments are around 1000K per month for the next 15 to 20 years. I have a friend who is still 80K in the hole to student loans at 44. In order for this career to make any financial sense you would have to expect to get hired at SWA within 5 years of graduating when carrying those kinds of financial burdens.
The opportunity cost is the opportunity lost. If you are not making enough to overcome the 150K to 200K (todays prices) that will be spent on college, lost wages while in college, plus flight training then you are working at a financially loosing proposition. Occupations that cost more than they bring in are called hobbies.
When compared to the opportunity lost; being a plumber and paying cash with the money spent on college and training, a flying career will never be able to catch up to the plumber.
SkyHigh