Opinion: Debunking the myth about pilot graduate debt

Debunking the myth about pilot graduate debt

by Simon Wallace, Aviation Industry Association Chief Executive

9 December 2024

For some time, officials within the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) have said pilot graduates accumulate high amounts of debt compared to medical, veterinary and teaching graduates. Information released to the AIANZ under the Official Information Act (OIA) casts some doubt on these views.

This information is interesting when looking at the level of debt. Granted, the average borrowing per pilot student per year was $31,500 in 2023, compared to an average borrowing for a veterinary and medical student of $17,900 and $21,500 respectively.

However, the raw number of students borrowing per year was around 500 for aviation and veterinary students compared to 3,000 students in medicine in 2023. What this means is the total annual debt was much greater for medical students at around $64.5 million compared to $15.75 million for pilot students.

When looking at debt on graduation, the average level of debt for a pilot graduate was high at around $100,000 in 2023, but not as high as a medical graduate at $120,000.

Successive governments appear to be picking winners and putting a greater value on a doctor than a pilot. And why is it that medical students have no cap and can borrow almost entirely the cost of their tuition fees.

TEC and MOE officials appear to think the only career pathway for a pilot is into commercial airline. But what’s missing is pilots have pathways into other areas too, like general aviation. They go and work in areas that make a critical social contribution, whether it is being on hand in times of disaster, likes floods and earthquakes, fighting fires or as an integral part in medical and search and rescue activities.

But the aviation industry does need to do better in describing and illustrating the career pathway for a pilot graduate and explain the job opportunities that are available in all parts of the sector.

The single largest obstacle to attracting young New Zealanders into aviation and a career as a pilot is the student loan cap which remains at $35,000 per year or around $70,000 for two years of flight training. As we know this has not changed since 2013 and has widened the gap with the actual cost of tuition fees which can now be upwards of $120,000. It means a student must find $50,000 or more themselves. This is locking out so many aspiring Kiwis from a career as a pilot and without change, we may become an elitist industry.

The AIANZ has just completed a robust piece of work which provides comprehensive evidence of the shortages of pilots (and engineers). Simply put, if policy settings don’t change, these shortages will become acute in coming years. The Government and their officials cannot stand back and ignore this research. If it does, the global labour shortages that are impacting aviation will be felt very soon in New Zealand and services for the travelling public will be impacted even more than they are now.

So, what next? Until now the Government has not believed industry claims that pilot shortages are real, but we’ve now given them the evidence. This has triggered more fruitful discussions with officials in the past few weeks than has ever occurred in past years, but it must lead to policy change that supports the aviation sector.

Rest assured this will remain one of the AIANZ’s key priorities going into 2025.