I have worked at a number of flying schools dununda and it is standard practice to charge the full dual rate for all flying up until GFPT because casa require those students to have "direct supervision".
That means that an instructor is supposed to be supervising the whole operation.
With instructors becomming rarer than rocking horse poo operators are forced to pay higher salaries and that has to be funded.
Anyway, I say (toung-in-cheek) that if you're worried about spending money, then Aviation is not the game for you!