At least they are giving cadets some sort of payment towards housing. In America, not only will you not get any compensation for housing, they will pay you less than a McDonalds employee to fly 5 legs a day...take what you can and be thankful.
This job is not for people who have a family to feed, this is for a young single guy with no commitments. Sure its going to be tough for the first couple years, I understand Hong Kong is expensive but you have to find a way to get by, get a roommate (maybe another cadet), take public transportation, maybe dont go out as much. This is a great opportunity people, you have to always look down the road. You can take out a loan or work 5 days a week and pay for your flight training, sure, I did it...but does that mean you're going to get hired by an airline now that you have a commercial license? By getting on with CX, you are securing yourself a future. Tons and tons of american pilots would give their left nut to leave their job in the US to come fly for Cathay..this is a great job!...Many airlines now days are cutting back by furloughing, pay cuts, termination of pension's and so on. Why not work for an airline that has never furloughed in almost over 70 years?
Lets say this, you have 250 hours, a commercial, instrument rating and a multi engine rating, now what? Who in the hell is going to put you anywhere near a jet? I'll tell you who, no one! Not only did it take you a couple years of training to get your ratings, you gotta spend another couple years building flight time now (not to mention all the money you have spent). Last I checked the requirement for a DESO at CX is "A minimum of 1000 hours fixed wing". That is a lot of flight time to build. Remember, the golden rule about a successful career at an airline is "Seniority", Seniority is everything in an airline. You want to get in sooner than later. I personally would suggest to anyone who wants a career in the aviation industry and is willing to live in hong kong to apply for this position.
Worst case senerio, you leave Cathay after six years and start over somewhere else....believe me, any airline that see's you have six years of 777, A330/340, 747 cruise pilot time, would love to hire...dont think just because your not doing takeoff's and landings that your time in the plane isnt valuable.
If your really worried about the money you will loose if you are a Cadet or a DESO, do yourself a favor, get your ratings and flight time, apply and just maybe you will get hired...
Thats just my 2 cents, you can either take it or leave it...
Cheers
Source: Plenty of family in the aviation industry, and in training departments at major us airlines.