It was explained to me during that part of my training that although stalls were not considered aerobatics, in the absence of a set rule it made sense to follow the requirements for aerobatics just to be safe (recovery by 3000' being one of them).
I'm not sure how much a student would save by doing stalls below 3000. Not much compared to the price of a new aircraft after you have a prang in this one, I'm guessing. Out of all the things you could complain about the cost of flight training this would have to be low on the list.
Although... Maybe it's a big conspiracy by the flight school to get an extra $10 out of students?
