Its been happening in the northern hemisphere for a while. Ten year ago I flew for a UK operator and a lot of the F/O's were CAP 509 (think that was the number) which meant they could get their CPL's at 150 hours. I didn't fly with F/O's that low but flew with a couple around the 200 mark. They flew OK considering their experience.
It was a tough road for them, they signed on and the company set up a bank loan for their type ratings that was in the individuals name and then left them with the repayments. Some only stayed a year and moved on to larger aircraft and I heard stories of guys paying two or more loans off while still getting paid stuff all. Was it worth it?
It wasn't a cadetship as such, but it was certainly a way of filling the RHS at a cheap cost and guys who had the appropriate coin got a good kickstart to their careers. Back then the UK was short of drivers. I have heard that some are now jet commanders now days and doing quite well.
Its certainly a different story in Aussie where there is, and always has been, a distinct bottleneck between GA and the airlines. This is the reason that you should be fighting this one, unless you all want to stay in GA for the rest of your lives.