It's time, as much as anything, that you save by going through a residential course. The flying success rate is pretty much the same anywhere, but the ground school is not.
Suppose you do a distance learning course, or do a residential ground school at a school with a poor pass rate track record. Say you pass 8 out of 14. Two months delay. Resit 6, pass 4. Two months delay. Than pass (or maybe not) the last 2.
Compare this with one of the ground schools with a higher pass rate track record. Full residential modular and a good chance of 14 first-time passes in 5 months. It means that you're available to work as a pilot 5 - 6 months earlier. Average new FO pay? Perhaps about £25K pa. That's ten to twelve thousand pounds difference in earnings. Suddenly the 'expensive' schools don't look quite so expensive any longer.
Of course, that argument assumes good prospects for pilots, ie, not the post Sep 11 situation. But some people are already seeing signs of recovery.
[ 26 February 2002: Message edited by: greengage22 ]</p>