Watch out for things like "Garbage left in aircraft" $50 fine, appearing on your bill. I had three of these appear on mine and I never once left any rubbish in one of the planes. Also I'd budget for more like $10k rather than $8k.
It will come down to whether you get lucky and get a good instructor. Mine left half way through my PPL which screwed me up as the new instructor I was assigned made me relearn everything his way, pointlessly accruing more hours than was necessary.
Just make sure you come back with the PPL, it will cost you considerably more if you come back without and have to re learn here.