I'm from the UK, I went to Bristow's Academy March 2005 - March 2006, from zero hours to CFII, all FAA, my total training cost including all flying and books etc was $49,700, rent was $5,000 (shared 2 bed in Windover), phone, gas and leccy bills were about $2,000, food was about $3,000, about $5,000 was spent on fuel and car depreciation, so $65k was my total. I got employed by Rotors of the Rockies in Denver because I had a friend there. I was lucky, one of my friends was driving all over the USA looking for work for over 4 months.