I am not a commercial pilot, so take this is with a grain of salt.

Have you flown jumpers before? Is there a syllabus for what the training consists of? Any chance of reducing/eliminating the training flights if you're sierra hotel?

What's the normal flight schedule? Dropping $150 once, to earn $500/weekend might make sense.

I see their concern turning a newbie loose with shock-cooling and min-fuel (starvation) a possibility, but I'm sure you'll hear from guys who say "you never pay for training".

Good luck - let us know which way you go. Wait, that did not sound right.