Edited to say that I posted this before reading Night fr8 and Chris's responses. Both are, IMHO, spot on. I also realise that I have gone somewhat off topic here and for that I apologise, however, I do feel the point needed to be made (AGAIN!)
Clearly, absolutely clear-as-day clearly, going the integrated route and then failing to get a job is just about THE nightmare situation. But the point is, that if you HAVE THE MONEY (so you're not taking any debt) then, in an environment where obtaining that first job is tough, you need to do EVERYTHING you can, to give yourself the best opportunity.
My original point, is that flying training, of whatever route, could never be considered "a bargain". Therefore if "one" was to undertake flying training, in what will be a highly competitive market, you should consider that you owe it to yourself to give yourself the best chance possible of gaining a job.
The argument is, therefore, whether one is better off spending less money but having to (perhaps/possibly/probably) fight harder and wait longer for that first job but limiting the financial risk, or take a bigger financial risk, but (perhaps/possibly/probably) reduce the risk/time to get that first job.
The choice is the individuals and there's only. However, PPRuNe suffers terribly badly from people who are so blinkered that their route is THE ONLY route.
Shaun, the reason I reacted to your post, is that yours comes across in exactly that way....let's twist your story slightly....what if the stewardess asks the Captain and first officer how much debt they carry and they say £50k (because above all else, unless you have to pay your T/R that's the most you can borrow for an integrated course generally) but they got a job pretty much on graduation...stewardess then says, oh, my boyfriend finished a year and a half ago and is back in his old job, trying to stay current...but he only owes £40k. Who looks the fool then?
This, whilst not verbatim true, is also pretty true to a guy I know who went mod...just cannot get that first job, has had to revalidate his IR twice and has just been told by his wife that if he can't get a job this year, he'll have to quit the dream. He's sold his house and uprooted his family to pay for it....This seems a stupidly high price to pay to me and he hasn't even got a professional flying job yet...
As I say, EVERY route has pros and cons, drawbacks and benefits. But let's drop the [expletive deleted] that mod is better than integrated, or vice versa. They're different, thats' all.