StevieW - a standard student loan is not 84K plus foundation, plus living costs, plus Type Rating. A standard student loan is not pushing 120k.
A student loan doesn't necessarily rule out buying a house for the duration of the pay back.
A student loan does not have to be secured.
Pilot training should attract a student status and all the things that go with it.
Your observation about 700 hours a year is not standing the test of time at present. I know of plenty of people getting 8, 15, 20, 30, 45 hours in a month for the last three months.
When you look at the take home pay that equates to, then compare that to minimum living costs you are looking at a deficit.
Going one month into arrears on a loan that's about 1250 a month in repayments means you need to find double the amount next month. Try doing that if you get two months at 30 hours a piece.
You really need to be getting minimum 50 hours a month to break even and that;s with a very low rent and doing very little in your spare time. This is not being achieved consistently by plenty of people this winter.
The so-called winter hours protection of 30 hours a month does not help. You have to wait three months before that pay out is made good, and then it's only a retrospective top up to 100 hours over three months. The damage done to you in the three months is not fixed with the retrospective payment.
I think you are naive to try to defend Flexicrew. If you look at what is happening now and project forwards, it's not a good outlook.
Flexicrew is being used to radically undermine the pilot employment landscape. It is dividing pilots over what is inherently a safety critical issue. It is allowing a small minority of people to profiteer off the backs of trainee and low hour pilots.