I have mixed feelings on the matter as well. I was one that was constantly told "make sure you get a degree as a back up" ad nauseum. So I went to school and got a BS in AE engineering, all the while getting my ratings in spurts every other summer (PVT summer of 00, instrument summer of 04, comm/CFI this summer etc etc) as I was able to save; hell, in the end I got tired of it and financed the last two ratings.
What I learned is that the value of a degree one pursues as a 'back-up' is a deceitful pursuit. This is particularly true when all you've been trying to do all along is to steer AWAY from having to use that degree in the first place!
So, the only way my BSAE degree, and now the MSAE degree (yes yes, did it only for the rent money) I got coming up in December, will ever be of use to me is IF I ever make it to test pilot school, since it qualifies me to apply, that's it. Oh, and teaching community college (if I'm lucky) but I could have done that going education major for undergrad and grad; sure as hell would have been an easier 7 freggin' years and a whole lot more p$ssy for the same crappy pay.
And the other problem is that MOST of us (hopefully) understand that the aviation industry is a negative returns on investment pursuit. Too much money goes into it and there's no adequate compensation. But that's nothing more than a starving artist's dilema, we KNOW that. So, while we understand the economics of the matter, it still wasn't our FREGGIN' FAULT we were born in a time where our passion in life wasn't economically feasible.
So while I still continue to agree with the main point behind the 'get an education' spiel, in hindsight I would suggest to anybody "getting started in life" to go 'all-in' and get a degree in whatever, by the most inexpensive way possible and focus on the flying. This, of course, predicates getting a cake major so that your flight training won't be prolonged by your schooling like it did to me (of course I still continue to drink the test flight dream Kool-Aid which is why I did what I did but I digress). Otherwise, forget about flying altogether, pick a degree that is marketable, (nursing, pharmacy come to mind), reasearch the working conditions so as to insure that the thought of directly working in that field does not induce feelings of purposely crossing the median during your morning drive to that job, and build up the cash to do the flying recreationally. My guess is, if your passion for flying is indeed somewhat sincere, your satisfaction with ANY of these money-driven pursuits will always leave you a little empty as you look out the cubicle. Such is life I guess. I just wish they [affording the rent and happy about being alive] didn't have to be that mutually exclusive for pilots.
Now back to my pageant, er, Guard applications
