Orca strait: Pilot's pay for their own ab-initio training, whether it is a contract commitment with the Air Force, Cadet program through an Airline or the good old fashioned way of slogging it out on your own. This would be equivlent to a University degree in terms of both time spent and funding ($50,000+).
Once you are in the employ of an air carrier the type specific training rests with the company. The company is not training you to be a Pilot as you have already aquired these accreditiations (Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot, Night Rating, Multi-Engine Instrument Rating, Airline Transport Rating etc.)
In this case the Air Carrier woud hire you as a Pilot, assuming you meet all the minimum qualifications (hours flown, type of aircraft flown etc.), then assign you to an aircraft in which you would take type specific training. At the end of the training a Pilot Prificiency Check (PPC) is completed under the oversight of the Federal Regulatory body (JAA, FAA, Transport Canada etc.) The PPC then has to be re-done every 6 months or you lose the right to fly. Fail the PPC more than three times - life gets real complicated...
The PPC training is what eight iron special is talking about. In recent years low value (not lo-cost) Airlines have been taking advantage of the Pilot Profession by establishing minimum term employment contracts (typically 2 -3 years). Attached to these contracts are bonds - in Jetsgo's case $30,000 committed by the Pilot at time of hire. If the Pilot should leave within the 3 year contract period then the Airline can demand all or partial payment of the bond.
Coming at this from a lawyer's point of view: I've paid for all my "ab initio training" to get qualified. I have to continue to pay for my "recurrent training" year by year, which I am required to do to keep my "licence" to practise. If I want to acquire a new specialism, and have to study to learn it, I have to pay for all of that myself. As I happen to be self-employed I would also simultaneously give up part of my earning capacity because I have to devote some time to the study.
Sometimes, some lawyers will manage to get some of this "recurrent" training sponsored and/or paid for by someone else, for example if they have a large corporate employer. But this is far from universal. And that's just the way that traditional professions work.
If the $30,000 that
eight iron special referred to is a form of golden handcuffs rather than payment for training, then I have misunderstood the point being made and I apologise. I can well understand the effect of golden handcuffs. It was the suggestion that the mere fact that one pays for one's own training diminishes the status of one's profession that I would vehemently disagree with.