Hi ChrisBL, PilotPrincess, Tinstaafl and all the other 'never-pay-up-front' crusaders out there!
I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that we generally understand and agree with you. Yet so many people keep bringing up the question over and over again. The (otherwise brilliant) permanent training-advisory thread already has information about the
"why", but not the
"how" and I think this is where the problem lies: How would an alternative pay-plan be organised? How does escrow-accounts work, how to agree total-price but still pay in chunks, etc. etc.
Also: -Why I think this is causing so much dilemma for so many people:
1) If there is a 'complete package price to PPL' pre-pay sum (perhaps even including free re-tests if necessary) then people are likely to feel;
"As long as the school doesn't suddenly shut down, I can pre-calculate the end price of getting my license." Hence, then the only (!) risk they take is that of the school going bust, but otherwise feel comfortable with knowing a fixed-sum cost to license.
2) If instead they embark on a 'pay-as-you-go' scheme, I think alot of people feel they might take the risk of the school insisting on lots of extra training towards the end, needed or not. Basically the old
"yeah mate, you're almost ready but we feel that you should take a few more hours (extra money) before we book you for the final test". Scary situation...
Again, I am happy to be wrong, please tell me if you see other posibilities. But from the looks of it; escrow-accounts, and other 'not-everything-in-advance' solutions only seem to protect us if the whole school goes bust, it doesn't protect against the costs
growing (but could even cause them to!) during training. Am I right here?
Naturally, the best solution would probably be to get a total-price agreed and then still only pay smaller amounts in advance, say; 33,33,34 (%) or so just before starting each new week. Not sure if this is possible, never heard of anyone being able to do it for a PPL.
Again, thanks for a great Forum and have a nice weekend!
/GO