There is no monetary benefit in being a first officer these days, especially if you have to service a loan.
Even in this current climate a friend of mine is grossing in excess of 50K as a contract electician, and his job is a lot safer than most pilots out there as he works on projects for well capitalised companies. (And positions like these wont cost you 100K or even 30K, more like a few hundred and a couple of years day release while earning good money during the day as an electricians mate.)
There are plenty of well paid jobs out there for graduates if you choose your career path with your head and not your heart.
I suspect the reason that first officer positions are reasonably paid is more down to a pay structure driven by the unions either directly or indirectly (in order to compete with other companies) than any benevolence towards wannabees who've burried themselves with debt.