Embry Riddle Aeronautical University is a private, aviation-focused university in Daytona Beach, FL. You're right in that it is very easy to spend $100k on a degree, but that $100k cost doesn't include your flight time. Those that go and spend the money have this complex that they have graduated from the "premier" aviation university in the USA, and expect to be treated like it. The real truth is that you can get the same jobs for a lot less money by going to cheaper state-run schools. The significance is that if your first job out of school is going to pay you $20k/yr and then $30k/yr the next, is it wise to be running up debt in the $100k plus range, knowing you need to pay it off?