Lets put it another way.
Bill is a hard working student but he is is from a low income household. Can he get a Govt funded place to do Eng/Comm/Medicine to the tune of over 100k dollars? Yes he can.
Steve isn't a gifted student and also comes from a low income household. Can he have access to the same funding (around 100k) for a CPL? Well at the moment, yes. In the old days he would have had to get a job and save to show his commitment but now its just a free handout from the taxpayer.
For all those saying who cares and the money gets paid back just look at how many fresh CPL holders are out there now. A lot more competing for the same amount of jobs which is very few. Even more people offering to fly for free and wash the bosses car too.
Why do you think there were so many kiwis over here with 250 hours? The local industry was so saturated with wannabees they all came here. The Kiwis stopped doing Govt funded flight training because it was a waste of money and we went ahead and started doing it???