mattpilot: I think that you're on the right track. Part 141 is not worth an extra $8000. By the time you accumulate the 1200+ hours needed for an airline or 135 job in the US nobody will care where you did your training. Getting a college degree will be much more important.
The best thing to do in this job market is to complete your flight instructor training at a school that will hire you. It's difficult for a CFI with zero experience to find work right now.
To answer your question, I am a flight instructor with 1000+ hours.
llesson: Yes, the US is different. It typically takes 1200+ hours to get an airline job. If you want to fly for a major airline you'll need at least twice that amount.