First off, I'd have to say that you're completely clueless about reality or you're flame baiting us, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt and try to educate you.
$200,000 for ERAU? Where are you getting those numbers from? I think it's about $27k a year. So, about $110,000 give or take. It wouldn't even be $200k if you did flight training. $110,000 for a ERAU engineering degree isn't a bad price. Their program is top notch. You could go to MIT and pay $46,350 a year. That's about $185k for 4 years.
If you want to go into the Air Force, why not do ROTC and let the military pay for your engineering degree? You do know that the commitment for a pilot in the Air Force is 10 years AFTER 2 years of training? Your 4-5 year hour building theory is fantasy. Don't join the military to build hours. You'll never get through primary flight training with that attitude. The 5th anniversary of Sept 11th is tomorrow. Join the military to wipe the bastards responsible for that off the planet to better the rest of the world. Not to build hours to land an airline job. After doing 12 years in the Air Force, you will take a PAY CUT to go work for an airline. Most major airlines have a probationary period where you make $35-40k a year for your first year. After 12 years in the Air Force, you'll be making near $100,000 a year in pays/benefits/tax breaks.
Don't get into flying for the money. You'll be very disappointed. The average pilot makes $130,000 a year? What kind of average pilot? The average Legacy FO (First Officer/Copilot) starts at about $55k a year after one year of probation. After 5 years, if everything is still Kosher with the company, you'll probably be in the left seat making $130,000 a year. Regional FO's start at <$20,000 a year. Fractional FO's start at about $40-45k a year. Corporate pilot salaries tend to vary. Some make good money, others start low also, but most of those guys are high time pilots.
Aerospace engineers make good money. I know people who graduated college and landed an engineering job with well known defense companies making $60k a year in an entry level position. Project managers make $100,000+ easily. So, it all depends on what you want to do, but getting into the flying business is a long road fill with pathetic pay checks for quite a long time. The majors are that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and unfortunately everything up to that point is a stepping stone with stepping stone salaries.