those so-called JAA schools have one thing in common.
They only have to make their products atractive at a brief look to Brits and Irish. Not Americans... I'd be interested to know their Americans vs foreigners/mostly Brits/ ratio or numbers. That'll give you idea.
As folks mentioned before, having JAA approval allows for charging premium.
Plus Florida.. Not the cheapest place in the UK to fly and as well, not the most challenging either.
Impressing some Europeans isn't hard at current flying schools' rates for hire in the UK etc.
Non-equity groups sound like way to go if someone lives close and has PPL already.
You guys should consider yourself lucky. There's some budding future pro pilots that prefer to go (mostly) rotary route and then US is the way to go.