Some food for thought for you guys out there:
I learned to fly long before cadet schemes came into the aviation world. I was 24 years of age when I started and had to pay for my own flying training, working many hours night shift to get extra pay. I took my annual leave to attend CPL and ATPL ground school and wrote my exams on my 'off days'
I was 30 years old on my first turboprop conversion and had a training bond for 4 years for that privelage. Up till then I lived in converted single garages on the large properties of the more well-off citizens.
Only at the age of 35 I managed to secure a bank loan big enough to buy myself a 2 bedroom townhouse in a very average neighbourhood in my home town.
I sometimes listen to the cadets and wonder if they really appreciate the opportunity that they are getting ?