Basset,
You'll see many posts over the years here, which have the common theme of "don't pay in advance". I support this approach to training. Absolutely, pay for what you fly, on time, no fuss. But paying for a service you have not received seems to me to be unwise. As a distant aside, here in Ontario, Canada, to provincial government actually made it against the law for exercise gyms to collect fees more than a month in advance because of the complaints about gyms going out of business, and members loosing their advance payments. Would you go to a restaurant and pay for your next ten meals before being served the first?
Also, plan to possibly take more than minimums to complete your training. You want to be trained to be a good pilot, not a minimum pilot. And, you should be okay paying the cost to become a good pilot - which will be more than a minimum.
On your honour, pay promptly for the services you agree to receive. In exchange, expect that a business will charge you [just] for services rendered!