There will be less people in training by the end of this year than last year, no doubt about that. From recent visits to serveral large FTO's (modular) it appears that the credit crunch/recession is yet to cut in. However the evidence of increased training costs is already upon us. I have seen a 15k CPL IR turn into a 30K CPL IR at near minimum hours. This will mean that less people will be able to afford flight training very shortly. If your in this for the long haul (40 year career) like me then its a good thing not a bad thing. Too many people have taken a two a penny fancy to flight training whilst the credit was cheap, these are the same idiots who pay for type ratings and line training. Thankfully there credit score has now run out and the real aviators can get back to business!
I'm looking forward to paying for my training upfront and graduating just as the market rebounds at a time when very few people are fresh from flight training!