I think you need to plan on how you are going to gain your experience till you can apply for the regionals. CFI, banner towing, etc. I hope when you graduate the mins are still high. Why? Because when someone can walk into a job from no experience with only a few months of training, it means you are easily replaceable. When you are easily replaceable, you'll never earn a decent wage. There is no shortage of people dreaming to do the job. There was a shortage of experienced pilots. With furloughs, not so much these days. When the barriers to entry are higher, only those who are dedicated and experienced(and sometimes lucky) will hang around, thus the bar would be raised. If you decide to stick with flying for a living, you'd be better off in the long run if the above happens.
Nobody can predict the cycle, this industry is FUBAR.