Tower vs Uncontrolled Airport

[Bill Greenwood]

If a student has the choice, you can save a lot of money by learning at an uncontrolled field, vs a big, busy, airport with a control tower.
At the big one, you will need controller permission to taxi, to take off, and directions on how to enter the pattern and land and taxi back. The longer runway will take more taxi time and there are likely more traffic delays, and if there are airlines or corporate jets, they are going to get priority over a student pilot in a piston trainer.
How much time and how much $$ does this delay amount to?
Let's say each flight at the tower airport takes 10 min more than the smaller uncontrolled field. Assume 50 flights of an hour each to get a private pilot rating.
Thus you spend 500 min or 8.33 hours more at the tower field basically just waiting in line. Assume a flight cost of $140 for airplane rental and instructor, so you would spend $1167 MORE at the tower airport just because there is more time wasted. Not anything to do with learning better.
Now all other factors may not be equal, but then again you may well waste more than 10 minutes each way per flight going in or out at the big airport. At 15 min more it would amount to $1750 wasted.
This is something to consider especially for so many on this forum that write that shortage of money is their biggest obstacle to learning to fly.