Agreed 4 year degree is a good investment

I was lucky enough to make it into the regionals before this 1500 rule. I got a job with 292 hours...22 hours multi. I had a 4 year degree from Florida Institute of Technology and I was honest with the interviewer and he said that my honesty and educational background went a long way to giving the thumbs up on hiring me.

So if you have 1500 hours and a 4 year degree, I would say you have preference over a 2000+ hour guy (with similar flight background) that doesn't have the degree on his resume...

In the current climate you can get hired at a regional as long as you have a pulse. A college degree is totally unnecessary.

Sure, as long as you plan on staying at a regional.

To pick a Legacy -
Delta General Requirement: Graduate of a four-year degree program from a college or university accredited by a U.S Department of Education recognized accrediting organization.

Regionals will choose college grads when the market allows them to be picky. College grads are likely to leave after a few years as a CA, keeping longevity costs lower. HS grads are very likely to be lifers, and will drive longevity costs up.

I don't think Regionals will be able to afford college grads anymore. Heck, they won't be able to afford HS grads with an ATP. "Desirable" majors could be picky about degrees, but even they will become much more flexible with min. quals.

One can only hope, but I'm still listening for the sucking sound...

As I've stated multiple times it doesn't matter where you "plan" to stay. The regionals will be the highest career we ever achieve in the airline industry. The "stepping stone" no longer exists. So by all means get your college degree, hell I would give you mine if I could. Your end result will be the same, applying for decades at majors only to never get called for an interview and end up retiring at whatever regional you worked for.

34000 Legacy/FDX/UPS pilots retire in the next 15 years.

There are currently 24000 pilots at the regionals and large fractionals.

If you're under 40 the only reason you don't move on is if you really don't want to (We all know the guys that complain about not getting hired but only apply to one airline and defiantly avoid job fairs or anything that will get them noticed).