The current price of TM is meant to entice the wealthy to learn as "the rich don't shop at poor stores" to quote the old monk.
The David Lynch Foundation directly hires TM teachers using donations from said rich folk and then works with existing charities and groups to teach TM for free to veterans, orphans, American Indians, etc. Your local TM center offers a 4-part payment plan with no credit check, no interest payments and 100% flexibility in payment options: pay the first quarter up front, and you have the rest of you life to make the final 3 payments. For people who aren't filthy rich, the local TM center offers scholarships and grants. As long as the final amount you pay is over $500, the same 4-part payment plan is in effect. $125 per decade for 3 decades isn't all that expensive: it works out to making a $125 payment up front, and then saving $12.50 per year and making a $125 payment every 10 years that you decide to continue practice TM. Of course, an honest person would try to pay things off in a reasonable amount of time, but that's the current payment structure that the TM organization is using: http://www.tm.org/course-fee
