There are different taxes involved with the cadet type schemes.
But it really doesn't concern the actual student as the pay the main headline price anyway.
The tax with VAT and employers NI contributions and cooperation tax offset is dealt with by the trainer and company doing the sponsoring.
You can't have a tax free course with commercial training only with this degree thing.
The vat must be paid but eventually if you go through to a VAT registered company they can claim it back. But you as an individual can't get it back.
An airline only has to take 5 cadets on a year and it pays for the training budget for 50 plus pilots.
As much as some go on that its because of perceived quality etc etc The main line is that the accountants love it because they make money out of recruiting. If they didn't they wouldn't do it.