Originally Posted by
safra1
I wonder if major airlines would consider or have in the past funded scholarships to Embry Riddle for a guarantee of service to the airline post graduation. This may be one way to reach out to groups that traditionally have not followed an aviation track.
That's certainly how it's done in some countries: you get hired to be a pilot, perhaps with zero flight experience. The airline hires you and puts you through pilot school, and you have to complete school and work at least X years as a pilot for that airline to cover their cost in educating you. If you don't, then you have to repay the cost of your training, on a decreasing sliding scale depending on how long you worked as a pilot before quitting or getting fired. It's not unlike the US service academies: if you attend for more than one year, you must serve for at least 5 years as an officer after you graduate, or you owe the government the cost of your education.
I think the bottom line is that at some point, US carriers will have to adjust the way pilots are recruited: either they will have to pay a starting wage such that it makes sense for someone without a trust fund that wants to become a commercial pilot to be able to do so, or they will have to finance the education themselves. I have a sneaking suspicion that instead, they'll try to go the tech company route with a pilot version of an H1B visa so that they can recruit "the needed talent that is in short supply in the US."