Opinion: College degree optional?

Although a pilot may advance to the regional airlines without a four-year degree, some major U.S. airlines require that pilots have bachelor’s degrees. Delta Air Lines and FedEx list a bachelor’s or four-year degree from an accredited college or university as requirements for pilot applicants; United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, UPS, and Spirit list the qualification as preferred.

Some regional carriers want college degrees, as well, and degreequery.com points out that a college degree will help an applicant land interviews with smaller airlines: “The degree presents him as a serious candidate for open pilot positions as it indicates that he [or she] has the ability to think critically and complete the airline’s unique education program,” the website says.

Another benefit of a college degree is that fallback position if there is a compelling need to hang up the pilot certificate and get into banking, accounting, or landscaping to keep up payments on the Lexus.

But, as reasonable as the college degree requirement is for loftier aviation career pursuits, is adherence to this precept sensible in an era where more flight talent is needed? Can the arbitrary requirement for a college degree for access to the higher- paying echelons of the industry deter many talented people who would otherwise jump into the game?

Julie Brosnan writes in Pacific Standard that the cost of training is a barrier to many prospective pilots. “The problem, though, is even bigger, because what’s more expensive than flight school? Flight school plus a four-year bachelor’s degree, which combined, can easily cost someone up to $200,000 in the U.S. More jarring still, what many may not realize is this: the U.S. is the only country in the world with major airlines that require four-year degrees in order to be a pilot. And that requirement is proving to be not only unnecessary for successful flying but also unfair for low-income Americans in particular.”

The assumption that a college education magically makes that person a higher-quality and more desirable employee is inherently unfair.Look at the premier international air carriers: British Airways, Emirates, Qatar Airways, Qantas, Singapore Airlines, Avianca, Air New Zealand. Not one of these top-tier airlines requires a college degree. They do require between 1,000 to 2,500 hours of flight time, a medical certificate, and English proficiency.

There is an additional disconcerting aspect of the industry’s conclusion that a college education magically makes that person a higher-quality and more desirable employee. That philosophy is inherently unfair, bordering on discriminatory.

Consider the mechanic at the local Ford dealership who managed to survive trade school and has been turning wrenches successfully and serving customers for a few years before joining the regionals. Never mind that he has acquired 2,000 pilot-in-command hours in a regional jet. No college degree. Will he be in the same league as the college grad with the same flight time when sitting across from an airline recruiter? Then there is the case of a Cessna Citation captain who could not finish his college education because he had to take over the family business since his dad had cancer. Would the HR interviewer consider that applicant as exceptional, having graduated the school of hard knocks, compared to the college grad with a B+ grade average who also interviewed? Who gets the job?

At least one major airline has removed the “college-preferred” statement from its list of qualifications: American Airlines. Bravo for AA, which understands there are better indicators of an applicant’s worth than a transcript and parchment from an institution of higher learning. Perhaps more will follow.