From a student pilot point of view, paying for Instruction may be a better choice. In my case, I wanted to learn ASAP. The local club (Albuquerque Soaring Club) in Moriarty, NM offered free Instruction. But they only operated on weekends, and sometimes only had one day out of two with an Instructor scheduled. The local Commercial operator and FBO (Sundance Aviation) had Instructors available at least six days a week. I took initial training in January 1999 with Sundance and, being able to fly three or four days a week, soloed in a G-103 after 34 flights. It took a total of 13 days of Instruction, including Ground School, and was accomplished in less than a month. I had one Instructor throughout the course.

Free Instruction through the ASC, using these figures, would have taken place over 13 weeks, I would have had at least four different Instructors and I would have been forced to take training in the SGS 2-33, which I wanted to avoid at all costs.

End result: I bought my own sailplane and started soaring almost immediately, whereas I would have probably spent many more months in the 2-33, then a transition to the G-103, and eventually my own glider. I figure going commercial and paying for Instruction, as well as the higher hourly rate on the aircraft, saved me about a year and ended costing about the same dollarwise.

YMMV