Paying for a type rating is a means to an end. By paying for a type rating you are accelerating your chances of employment. If you look at it as a business decision, not an emotional one, it kind of makes sense. Many years ago to climb into the flight deck of a Boeing 737 you had to serve an apprenticeship. For example you had to pay for an Instructors Rating (Not cheap), then once qualified you spent the best part of 2 years building hours on a very low salary to qualify for the airlines. If you were lucky you would go straight onto a Jet, however many of my friends had to do time on Turbo props, again earning very little money when compared to their Jet peers. If you take all this into account, the loss of earnings and upheaval, paying for a rating, even hours, to acquire experience does not sound such an unattractive proposition. And if you are clever you could set up a company, register yourself for VAT and claim back the VAT. And the icing on the cake is when you do secure a job you can offset the cost of training against tax and right it off as a directors loan. This could save you thousands of pounds.
That said, I do still feel the Airlines should pay for your training, however, the world is changing fast, and not just in the airline industry. I feel people should not criticise other for taking the pay to fly route. If you sit down and look at it logically the maths does stack up.
Take the moral high ground at you peril!