@parkfell: I have not been posting on the forum because maybe you noticed we had a pandemic that screwed everything so I rather waited with my final training as long as possible (ATPL theory pass is not valid forever). Also as written in Ryan air topic I don't wanna take instructor spot just because I can (after finishing FI(A) of course) if there are better ones than me doing it currently but happily people are back at their airlines so everything is slowly going back to normal. Flying for me is something I enjoy its not something I do because of economic reasons, as for economic stuff I could just sit rest of my life and wait for different investment payouts each month (which I also did during pandemic). As for prepayments I have not heard much about it but I believe it was called "zadatek" and not "zaliczka" so its non refundable part of the payment for flight training, and there was A LOT of people who could not enter Poland during the pandemic but now it should be possible and everyone who paid anything will get its worth the school is not responsible for the state, the pandemic or people not getting visas during pandemic.
Personally I paid 19 % of 30 extra PIC ME hours (I want to learn to fly the ME aircraft for real not just do the mandatory MEP(L) training, maybe once upon a time get CRI/ME and my own DA-42) but postponed the whole stuff so I can do it fresh instead of doing it in 2020 in the middle of pandemic. The cash is not gone its waiting there for when I wanna do the training, if someone prepay something before they find out stuff with the state or the pandemic etc. its not the schools fault. Its clearly informed what is prepayment that can not be withdrawn and what is payment that can be refunded. What if someone fail I class medical? The school actually advise everyone to take the I class medical BEFORE signing up for any training if someone living abroad say they have everything ok and sign, is it the schools fault if they fail I class medical that they said they already have?
@TheCapn: You do realize you should have chosen integrated training that usually cost 2x the price if you do not want to do self-study? Actually even in an integrated course the instructors wont learn for you, you will have to do some self-study. Plus if someone is struggling with theory its possible in Poland to hire private instructor for the theory part. Also the school offer theory lessons with instructors for free, but I actually heard one guy manage to say they he do not want to...... some people do actually believe stuff should learn itself without their personal effort. Modular course includes self-study. I have never ever seen anyone laughing of foreign students and we had some real professional students from Turkiye who were previously F-16 pilots doing their civil commercial licenses. But there have also been some who talked a lot about their dads being captains and having a job waiting for them, while some of them were unable to answer basic questions from the instructor (or discuss aviation stuff with other students) about the training they were supposed to do. But still no one did treat it in a bad way at the school (of course the school does not have "stiff" atmosphere so people do joke and have fun, and its other students joking not the staff). The whole office at the school is proficient in English and speak English with every student who wish to speak English.
As for "super clever students" who actually care to do their self-study and learn the stuff required for the different lessons of course they get their lessons when they are prepared for them. If someone know almost nothing then the person is sent and even helped to learn the stuff that is supposed to be read and learned by the student in modular course. If done otherwise then the lesson would be a waste of time and the students money, imagine the outrage if someone was flying 3x the hours for ME/IR for example because the school said its ok that you know nothing and do not want to self-study or do extra free theory lessons with the instructor since you will learn in the cockpit..... of course there exist schools all over Europe that pass students who don't fly the aircraft themselves and even have friendly examiners but then if someone want only a license and not learn to fly then they should not choose a school that actually is learning people to fly and not pushing them through the course just to get it done.