No offense here, but I think you folks are looking at it too much from an Anglo/American point of view where everybody (both management and staff) only look at the short term gains (i.e. money) to be made.
I'm talking about job satisfaction which affects the way I feel, which thus affects my health and which NO amount of money can compensate. Yes, I understand you need money to live, but maybe I'm on old fashioned fool when I try to look at the bigger picture then just money.
Besides, taking out a loan to pay for training and a type rating and then earning "big bucks" of which half goes to paying back the loan doesn't sound like a great deal to me.
Sure, you can go to a bank and do it again (!) the Anglo/American way and leverage yourself by showing them your payslip to take out even more loans to finance a lifestyle such as cars/house/vacations etc, but I think those days are definitely O V E R!
[Furthermore, the domino effect of those kind of people losing their jobs (and therefore stop spending and defaulting on loans) will accelerate the economic mess we're in, but that's probably a too European point of view and a different topic altogether.]
The boom is over and the bust is rapidly approaching, so be ready to grab your ankles and brace for the worst!