Multi Engined,
This is the whole point here, it was purely your mates choice to spend $2,000 to go to the cadetship interview. If you would believe others on this forum then everyone who turns up with the money and willing to sign gets the job. Judging by the amount of people on here who are not getting through the selection, this if obviously not the point. Don't forget, no one is forcing people to go to these interviews, rest assured if Jetstar got ZERO applicants due to the cost associated with the selection then the policy would change. From the numbers that are apparently applying this is obviously not the case. If you resent paying for the selection just don't do it. Once again this is not new, to get into a 'certain' legacy carrier I had to take unpaid leave, pay for flights and two nights accomodation which cost me about £600 at the time, they offered ZERO assistance as it was my choice to apply.