Kyle, in regards to the "Shortage" or the increase in the number of Pilots required in the world, no offence but GU have been peddling that sort of crud in some form or another for some time now, back when I went there for a semester it was all about the Qlink Cadetship spots they had reserved for their students, whilst not exactly "Incorrect" it's certainly not the full story, there will always be shortages but they will be specific to particular areas, not across the board and you'll find the Europeans and to a slightly lesser extent the Americans are in much better positions to fulfill most of those spots due to the type of training they do (Ie, CPL + Airbus or Boeing Type Ratings) and their job pathways. Personally I got the heck out of there (GU) and could not have been happier with my decision.
The others have it fairly spot on in regards to HECS/VET Feel Help with Aviation, I've seen some of the Students over the years that have come out and given up very quickly when they realise the challenges required to be overcome in starting in this Industry. Whilst I'm all for giving those without the money to pay for it all upfront the opportunity, HECS/Vet Fee Help is not the only way, I personally had to take out a bank loan against my family house and pay it back myself, that was fairly good motivation and alot of others do it over longer periods of time or work for a couple of years first and don't end up with massive HECS/Vet Fee Help debts, Government Debt is the quick and dirty way of doing it IMHO. People have been getting into Aviation for almost 100years before the government started paying for it for us.
In regards to the being paid in Arrears part, that wouldn't have been a major issue with an institution like AAA (Or rather shouldn't have been), they were around before the GU stuff in other forms, their downfall was the usual for such a place and the way it was, pie in the sky ideas and trying to move too far too fast, been plenty of examples of that sort of thing all over Australia and I'm sure the rest of the world, some of their Management also had less than enviable reputations when it came to running the business and motivating their staff.
I should point out that these are my own personal musings based on my personal experiences in Aviation and in particular Archerfield and GU, though I'm sure there is a lot more to it all, there ALWAYS is in Aviation, too many egos often get in the way of doing things properly.