Damn, today's rental rates are astounding, Back in 96 when i went and got my ppl in LA I decided to buy a 1976 Warrior (150hp) for $16,000 and put it on leaseback to the school I was learning at. They in turn rented it out for about $58 per hour(wet). My 2 brothers, my then wife and I all got our PPL's for about $3000 each . The funny thing is, business slowed up at that time and I ended up living of the leaseback payments for 18 months. That old Warrior paid for itself many times over thank god.
Thinking about today's prices makes me wonder how the hell does an enthusiastic and talented kid from limited resources manage to get his/her foot on the aviation business ladder and become a pilot? the prices are just insane.