Just to dispell the rumor that the PACE program costs $12,000-$15,000, I just finished the classroom portion (with Kellwolf's friend) and it will end up costing about $9,100. Each individual will pay a slightly different amount depending on their proficiency in the Baron. They estimate that it will take 20 hours in the Frasca 242 and 10 hours in the Baron, but I did less than 6 hours in each (including checkrides), saving several thousand dollars. The $12,000 they estimate, in my opinion, is worst case scenario.
For the record, the PACE program is great training, and at this point, seems to be a proven alternate to the CFI route to get to the regionals. I understand there is some debate on the inexeperience of the pilots from San Juan, but after going through 12 weeks of CRJ systems and going through the exact same syllabus of simulator training that they do in initial ground school (40 hours), I feel that the typical MAPD grad would be as prepared as any 1500 hour CFI. I fully agree that the experience that the CFI would bring to the cockpit is valuable, but since there is an experienced captain there already, the systems knowledge and additional sim training of the MAPD guy might be just as important.
Anyway, if anyone has any specific questions on the PACE program, just let me know.