Quite a few views expressed so far, from the I figured out I don't want to teach to the why should I go in debt to maintain. Maybe the agencies should look at what they charge to stay current VS the income they get from a new diver being brought in by an instructor...crew packs.. cards... con ed sales..social groups..etc.
An alternative would be for the agencies to make being "pro" something that would be financially impossible for those who weren't going to do it full time as their sole means of feeding and housing their families. If dues were in the order of thousands of dollars/year there would be far fewer "pros" and they might be able to command a more competitive wage with their other high-end sports expert instructors (high end ski coaches, tennis and golf pros can make very good livings). That might shatter the volume of people that come through the "pro" levels... but it might also have the nice side effect of allowing the remaining professionals to be treated like professionals...