Question about ground school
 

At my university I can take a class that is "a comprehensive Private Pilot ground course, with an FAA-approved Part 141 curriculum." What does that mean? I am thinking of starting towards my PPL this summer, so would this class reduce the ground school instruction, and costs, needed? any comments would be appreciated, thanks.

If you did your flight training with the same university, you wouldn't have to do anymore ground training after finishing the course. If you did your flight training somewhere else, you would just have to show them you have the knowledge you need to be a private pilot.
At the end of that class you would be ready to take the Private Pilot knowledge exam. Once you take the exam and pass, it is good for 2 years so you won't have to worry about it when checkride time comes.

As Zach said, passing the course basically gives you permission to take the private pilot knowledge exam once you have the graduation certificate from the course.

The ground school "should" save you some time and money. One-on-one with a CFI will still be needed because you often don't cover the maneuvers and some of the aircraft-related stuff in ground school (the purpose of that should be preparing you for the written). You shouldn't have to spend as much time in that manner if A) you study and B) you study. Being prepared and retaining the material from groundschool will mean less time spent reviewing with your CFI.