In article .com,
"Jay Honeck" wrote:

No offense to John (whom I applaud for his persistence -- something few
student pilots show), but he was fleeced. There is no way a PPL has
to cost that much, and it does GA an injustice to publicize his unusual
experience.

Jay, go back and read his recent posting. He included EVERYTHING!
His actual instructor/airplane rate was less $85/hr.
His spreading out the training over 2.5 years is where the additional
expense occurred.
Dispite this, as some others have posted, $100/hr for a C172 and $40/hr
for the instructor will still add up to $7,000 (50 hours) to $9,000 (70
hours) cash outlay for a PPL.
That is daunting. Try to find a high school or college kid who has that
kind of pocket change.
Still, it is in keeping with the typical pilot profile. Married, house
paid for (or almost), kids out of the house and done with college, age
50-55. This is the demographic with disposable income.