Hi, I am also a budding photographer. I am taking a course from the New York Institute of Photography at the moment. It was about $800 and you get videos, tapes, books, tests, assignments and a personal instructor guy who you can call or email anytime. You send in your assignments to him and he records his advice etc on a tape and sends it all back. It's good for me because I don't like to have a fixed schedule, so I can do it in my own time. Plus, I think that the price is very reasonable for what you get.
Anyway, that's my two cents worth :)
Alex.
