Congratulations and welcome to a select group in gaining your permit.
I hope the positive conversations on this and other forums will encourage others, who are qualified, to take the training and apply for their permits. It is only when we exercise our rights that we keep our rights.
If cost is an issue, then shop around for an instructor who is willing to work with you price wise. When I took my training, we located an instructor (we being five) who agreed to lower his fee, as well as do it in one long Saturday. We started at 7am and worked through the sacked lunches we each brought and finished up on the firing range very late in early November. Oh, and it helps being an NRA member when negotiating with an instructor.
If you're interested, talk about it with some friends and see who else may be interested, you may end up with a group then all you have to do is get squared away with an instructor.
It did me well to have talked with a good friend and three other guys who commited to a date and it all went. It was a win, win situation for everyone involved.