I own Flight Academy Blackpool and have taken a number of these suggestions onboard. To be fair, a number of the suggestions on here was already protocol for us.
One thing I have noticed, a lot of people actually WANT to pay upfront fees! The amount of times that I have talked people out of paying upfront I could have probably retired on the profits alone! I'm not saying I don't take payment upfront, its just that I prefer not to. This protects both parties.
With the costs of flying constantly increasing, the price you pay today could make the course unaffordable for me to operate in 1-2 years time, which would mean operating at a loss, or I could increase the students costs (which I refuse to do)