Bucking Bronco,
Some time back I was in a class of 8 cadets at CCAT, 4 being sponsored by EPST and the remaining being self-sponsored. Due to personal/domestic circumstances I had to withdraw from the course and go modular, but at least one of the remaining self-sponsored cadets performed on a par or better than the 4 EPST cadets. Now 18 months later, all the EPST cadets are being type rated on 73s, whilst the said self-sponsored cadet languishes.
Not all sponsored cadets are worth sponsoring - I could name a few!