Its seems like everything has been said a couple of times already in this thread.
As Ludwig says, when most of us were students we were looking REALLY hard to get the best deal.
I checked out several schools and wanted the cheapest way of getting my ratings with a CERTAIN degree of quality.
Flight Safety were way too expensive so I chose Comair in Florida.
Now Ive been informed that they have really upped their prices and Scandinavian students are really hard (close to impossible) to get started there.
Ive dreamed of being able to live off instructing because my students tell me Im good at it and most importantly, I enjoy it.
Im not going to pretend that I dont wanna fly for a big Airline, but Im in no rush. I think I belong to the majority in that respect.
But the aviation training market is too narrow and the students that have big bucks are hard to come by. Mostly its younger ppl at the end of their teens/start of their twenties that are dreaming of becoming airline pilots, but have VERY limited funds, just like US when we started.
PLUS...there are SOO many instructors out there compared to the number of students, so if you try to up the price, you will find yourself without buissniss.
Its a matter of supply and demand....And we are short of students....