Well, in todays reality lufthansa cadets have to pay back 60k€ once they start working on a lufthansa flightdeck. It is not free, however the pay and repayment schedule is very comfortable. By the way, initial basic training aircraft is a beech bonanza, advanced training is done on cessna CJ1s.
Thorough training is a key and something succesfull cadet programs do. However, do not confuse it with pay to fly programs where some might get trained and then put on the line simply because they paid up, wether they are able or not to do it right. The above linked accident is sadly something that came out of exactly that mindset.