I've always heard that you have to pay it as soon as you pass the checkride. I'm at Mesa too and not as lucky because I have 4 months left on my training contract. So I'm gonna hold out for the CRJ to reduce it as much as possible. The good news is I'm on the Freedom side, and with no flying it looks like it will be a paid vacation till I leave. Hold out until they give you a sim schedule. I had 2 months of pay with travel benefits in between Ground school and the sim. Not sure if everything is that backed up still but it was the only nice thing about working here so far.