Sorry to ask but am I missing something here?
Ok, £65k to pay for a career is a lot money, and not many people have that sort of money lying around to do it with out getting into debt! but you only need to pay that sort of money if you go for an intergrated course, do it modular or any other way and the real cost is nearer £35K, that is for your flying time, exams fees etc. Regardless, you are getting something out of it - the chance to be able, if you are good enough, work hard and possibly know the right people to get a job in the RH seat of a plane you want to fly. It's that simple.
Yes the pay might not be great to start, yes your friends may be earning more money than you, yes if you can't afford it you will be in debt for a long time but those that do it, do you think they really care about all this?
For those people that actually care their friends earn more money than them and they might be in debt for a long time, possibly aren't doing this for the right reasons.
I am possibly in a slightly more envious position than most, that due to hard work, and a whole lot of luck in the property market I can actually afford to do this off my own back and not having to worry about paying back huge sums of money at the end, but I don't believe that my motives for wanting to do this are any differnet than anyone else on this website and I am sure that have ever much I want this someone will always be more passionate and decidated than me, but that is just life.
The one thing I have learnt from reading Pprune over the last year, is that no 2 people are the same and everyone needs to make their decision based on there own circumstances, financial situation and motives for wanting to be a pilot.
If you believe that spending £70k on an intergrated course will give you the best chance of getting where you want to go, then that's up to you. Make your decision, live by it and get on with life, it's that simple.. and quite honestly no different to anything else that happens in the real world. It just amazes me that so many people on here think that training to be a pilot is any different to getting any other job. If you want a proffesional job then you will have to pay for it. It costs £35k+ to be a lawyer, £40k+ to be a doctor, £30k to be an accounant.. So being a pilot is no different!
So getting back to my orginal point, what have I missed and why all the fuss?