The cost to learn to program on Apple's platforms is the cost of an iPad or Mac. The $99/ year is only required if you want to deploy an app to the App Store or use Apple's cloud services.
So please, stop defending them. They are doing really shitty things that will just become stains in computing history.
This is true if you love Apple or hate them deep in your soul for a million burning reasons.
If I started my career in the current era, there is no chance I would have been able to afford to develop in the Apple ecosystem (not just yearly subscription, which is crazy to me, but also the cost of the hardware as you point out).
Theres no market of second hand developer licenses.