Thing is, its becoming more and more blurred nowadays.
I'm in a position to get onto a deal almost identical to that of Ryan in one of the outfits mentioned by despegue/j74. Ie paying for TR, but a paid long-term contract afterwards.
At the same time Norwegian (not mentioned in the list) has recently advertised a position of non-tr FO "summer contract" where you pay for your TR to be offered a fixed term contract of... 3 months.
And thing is, I'll probably take the offer I got. I've spoken to quite a lot of pilots during the last 4 years - working the ramp and flying on the jumpseat everytime I had the possibility. While 4 years ago opinions were varied and some said Ryan is a black sheep of the industry, in the last year every single pilot I met told me that I have to be prepared to pay for my TR. Most of them I could quote on 'if you get a shot at Ryan, by all means go for it'...