SSTaurus,
To be fair, given the rates of pay for non turbo-prop jobs in the UK I have to say I don't think the level of debt incurred is that bad, in the long term....if you land a jet job straight after.
I've done the math before and I would certainly be earning a substantial lot more than I am now, even paying off the 70K for 10 years. That said, I'd love to be blatting round the countryside in a TP, but the salaries seem so much lower than it just isn't worth the integrated cost.
You say being saddled with 70k of debt is a pain - well imagine if you didn't have a job at the end of it?!? The repayments on the standard loan alone are what a half reasonable job would bring in and no more! That to me is blooody terrifying!
The issue surely has got to be the probability of getting a jet job. And, for all I know, hundreds of fATPLs are being churned out every year with no where to go. I just haven't seen anything to indicate otherwise.