This is not far removed from what I understood the deal to be. And it's not a bad deal. Compare this with having to have a secured loan to get into FTE or OAT or whatever. There's loads of us who can't secure a loan.
Sure there's risk in the deal, but you takes a risk walking your doggy (cliché number 1!). Everyone who enters aviation these days takes risk and pays money.
7 years is a long time but like any loan, if you can throw in an extra £100 a month from your own money you'll save a lot on interest over the period, and the airline keeps giving you £1000 a month on top. If you manage to repay the bond earlier than the 7 years this way, you'll be accessing your direct entry salary earlier. Short term pain, long term gain (cliché number 2!).
The long term view is a reason to be extremely careful about how much you borrow/spend on top of the 60K, but now I'm just stating the obvious.
One more thing to mention for those who are just graduating uni with debts before joining CTC, is to do a little future forecast of how much they'll need to repay on their student loans once they start as an FO in 2 years' time. I dunno how the new scheme works but that nasty repayment could really cut into your funds. Best to work it out beforehand and know what to expect.