The demand is pretty high right now. West Houston has trouble keeping instructors and as of about a month or two ago they only had two available which really makes it difficult to schedule.
Anson at Sugarland has more instructors but it is still difficult to get them scheduled because of the demand and neither one of these schools rent airplanes cheap.
I actually drove up to College Station to Brazos Valley Flight school because of the quality of their instructors. They are down two instructors right now but of the instructors they have left I think you will be hard pressed to beat their experience. On top of that they are a little less expensive related to plane rentals and instructor rates.
- C172 - $129/hr wet
- C172 with G1000 - $139/hr wet
- C162 - $99/hr wet
- C150 - $96/hr wet
The instructor rates are $40/hr.
https://bvfs.net/Good Luck!
BTW, my checkride was only $500 so I think it just depends on who you get. If you can, use Wanda out at Madisonville. She is really good and it was actually enjoyable with her.