Aviation is a seniority system, thus timing is absolutely everything, qualifications simply don't matter. If you were born in the 60s/70s, half your career earnings were wiped out, regardless of any of your accomplishments. Contrast with today, there are a few pilots in their late 20's, early 30's, working at majors, even without degrees. They are very, very lucky.

The reason this makes me so angry, is that we are asking naive kids to take on six figures in debt, for a career that is based entirely on timing. Even the college degree requirement is based on timing; It's disgusting.

 

I spent my late teens and early 20s working full time instead of “getting blackout drunk every weekend.” I also finished my degree in that time. Nobody I know went on blackout benders every weekend. It’s almost as if you’re mischaracterizing college to justify your decision.

 

Whether that was the intention, that was how it came across to me as well.

Are there kids who party in college a lot? Absolutely... It has and always will be that way, but to act like every college student is living out Van Wilder is disingenuous and falsely devalues the college degree and experience.

I worked two or more jobs all through college, took CLEP courses, and finished early with a 3.97 GPA with a double-major in a challenging program(s). I feel like most of my friends worked pretty hard in college as well. The ones who didn't mostly just dropped out, or took a break until they were ready to take it more seriously.

FURTHERMORE, I have and always will place a high value on the affect of a Liberal Arts degree on a young person... For those who weren't fortunate to travel much as children, college can be the first time a young adult is exposed to new and different people, cultures, religions, ideas, etc. It's an incredibly formative time, and this is important. The LAST thing we need in this world is more people staying entrenched in their own echo-chambers, and not challenging themselves by entertaining new and different ways of thinking.

Al that being said, I agree that choosing where you go, and how you take care of paying for school is just as important... Kids taking on $100/$200K+ of student loans for a generic/unmarketable degree can very quickly hamstring their early professional lives with a debt that is at a very high liability level.

 

Just as a point of clarification: while I’m sure this *does* occasionally happen, it’s not the reality of college debt at all. It’s mostly a mischaracterization used to feed an agenda.

 

I got a degree later in life for a few reasons.

1: The obvious one, in a competitive environment, why would you ever want to handicap yourself for any reason? When they filter resumes, I don’t want to be filtered out in round 1.

2: It was a goal of mine and it felt really good to accomplish it. I will never pressure my kids to go to college, but I like that I can speak from a position of experience if they go in that direction.

Did it make me a better person? Do I feel more worldly? No. But it had some tangible benefits that well outweighed the “costs.”

 

The $200K side? Definitely less frequent. That was geared more toward the Embry-Riddle FO's I've flown with.

$100K?... Even in-state school tuition is getting hefty, and that's before you start throwing the lodging, meals, books, and other cost-of-living items in. Out-of-state? Definitely $100K+, tuition alone.

 

Check out the Newsweek cover story from a few months ago about student loans. Yes, it’s a huge social issue. However, $100k is very, very much an outlier.

 

Regardless of the route someone took, they’re going to argue that their decision was the correct one. As seen already here multiple times.

Th each their own. 141 school, 61 with college, no college. Honestly I don’t think there is a bad move to make in this market. The 141s will have their advantage with all the carriers fighting hand over fist with their cadet programs. College guys will still have the box checked and a good fall back if things go sideways, no college guys won’t have the student loan debt to overcome and maybe be able to focus more financial resources to other means of filling out a resume.

I think being a 141 guy has worked out for me. I did it that way for personal reasons, not because I was entrapped in the ideals that going that route makes me better than anyone else.

 

But no college will be limited to lower tier majors, or will lose literally years of seniority waiting for as top tier call... that might well never come.

IMO the only sensible "no college" option for airlines is focus on training/time building up front and then work on the degree while serving time at the regionals. But there are age limits for R-ATP and ATP, so getting in early only gets you so far if you end up cooling your heels waiting for a birthday in a couple years.

There's too much potential opportunity in the industry in the coming years... for the cost of an online degree you can expedite your access to said opportunity.

 

The only problem with starting at a regional and then working on a degree is that many don’t. They get busy working and living their lives and never finish the plan. Ten years later they’re senior regional captains without a degree complaining about how everyone else gets invited to interview.