I would not be worried about a few $$ saved but rather where you will feel comfortable and where you see professionalism.
Some places have great schools but one instructor may not be to your liking, or a smaller less know place may have a really great instructor, as was the case for me.
It all depends on where you are now, if that is Birdsville, you wll have to travel anyway. if its Toowoomba.....the aero club is on your door. Check out the aero mags and yellow pages do some homework and go see a few.
Expect that if you get thru in around 45 hours tested, and thats a good result, you will have paid just under $10K with all the misc. expenses, and if you can do it in a more economical a/c than a C172, like any of the Tecnam/Jabiru etc types maybe save $2K.
Cheers
J
