You can halve your flying costs by joining a syndicate.eg. At Parafield there is a long running Piper Archer 2 syndicate $140 / hr wet including all PF landing fees. You buy a share into it and sell it if you want to leave it later on. Share prices tend to hold or increase in value. Why pay a profit margin at a school if you don't have to. Other syndicates exist at BK and MB and many other places. If they are larger syndicates they tend to be quite affordable as the costs are shared across many members.