The student not paying after landing - would cost the school few hundred dollars at most!
Schools can cost the student $30.000 - $70.000!
Balance the equation, and see who has the strongest odds!
The temptation of a reduction of course fee of $1000 - $5000 is temptation enough for some students to pay up front! Also to get your visa, you need to show you have the money available, and until you have parted with your cash all is always like gold!
I have my own business, and have seen plenty of ways people adopt Machavellist approach to their dealings!
And at the moment with current crisis in the USA, I would not take their words worth for anything.
Having just been told in another post that a flight review JAR to FAA PPL would cost $200, and one of the schools I contacted quoted me $1900 - it shows - trust no one with your money!
With the flight schools, the odds are overwelmingly against the students, they get NO guarantees that the flight school will be HONEST, TRUTHFULL and do their job in the best possible way.
Having spent much time in Miami, personal and business, and having worked all over the world it takes a lot to impress me, I do not believe what people tell me, because I have learnt from life - it's not worth a thing. However the US lifestyle is very aggressive when it comes to marketing, and younger prospects can be manipulated by the spin of the US flight school marketing strategy!
However younger "idealistic" wannabes, can much more easly be impressed and pressured into accepting conditions and terms they will be unable to fullfill - this gives us life experience, and most of us learn from this. But when you invest as much people do in this career, it is no longer a game where you are left in ruins the day the flight school is closed down - or you have to choose to get another $5000 - $10.000, or return home with NOTHING - and wasted + $30.000!
And guess what, the one who does not loose, is the flight school!
The odds are heavily stacked against the wannabe!
So defending a flight school is rich, as they do not care what happens to you and your life when there is no more money for you to pay them. Or if they go bust, the director probably takes his yacht to Bahamas, while the students loose all their money, like with NAIA.
Trust NO ONE with YOUR MONEY!
It's like going to the Casino, the odds are against you!