clanger,
to answer your question, 'yes', under 30k all in, including ppl and hour building. Did my ppl in the states for less than 3k, then towed gliders for over 150 hours(all free flying). Joined a local cessna syndicate as well, and flew for just over 50 quid an hour. The whole lot, including test/licence fee's, atpl exam fee's...etc etc came to 28k, give or take a pound. If id trained for the cpl/ir/mcc abroad I could have probably saved more. I opted for UK training however. The 2 jobs I am sitting in hold pool's for will be bonded TR's as well. No self funding.
If id had the money, i would have probably taken the integrated route. but ONLY if i'd had the money. I certainly wasnt going to borrow 70 odd grand. The modular route has worked fine for me though, got the ticks in the boxes, first time passes in cpl and ir and all my groundschool, all in min time. I even averaged 94% with my exams. I dont really care if Ryanair see me as a training risk(the extra sectors you refer to)as i wouldnt contemplate working for that shower of s**t.
Im not poo pooing any route that people go down. As i said earlier, its all horses for courses. People should do whats best for THEM, and do what they can afford. The integrated route at this moment in time looks dodgy to me though, with the recession upon us and jobs drying up. Given the employment stats for OAT this year, its obvious that the likely result of your cash will end you up at Ryanair. Thats a serious amount of cash that people could save and go modular. They'll get the same interview at the end.