No, by the time you get your degree and 1500 hours things likely will be at a point the regionals will start hiring again. My guess that will be 5 or 6 years away. Even if it is a year or two longer, it is better to have everything out of the way and keeping your application active. You can take a job doing something else at that point. If you defer getting your 4 year degree and your 1500 hours, when they are ready to call, they will not call you. You won’t be ready.

Pilot shortage still expected after the pandemic. I could certainly believe it for foriegn airlines, if not so much in the US.

https://skift.com/2021/02/01/airline...c-downsizings/

Certainly agree. Often times people only see the crisis in front of them and not where things will be 3 - 5 years from now. Mandatory retirements are still happening. As an example (as of a couple of years ago) 2/3 of all AA pilots were scheduled to retire in the next decade. I have not seen any forecast of downsizing that would even come close to that, as a matter of fact there will be growth down the road in a few years. And foreign airlines will have an even greater percentage of growth.