Yes you have touched on one of the toughest questions people deal with on the phone - What does it cost? Your insights are solid in that you still want a reason for them to come in however the avoidance of the question could pose other problems (i.e. lack of trust; assumption it's too high, etc.). An additional approach you might want to add to the mix is simply telling them the cost and ask them if it's what they expected. Then ....wait for their response. It can only be one of 3 things (yes, it's what I expected; it's less than I thought or holy cow...that's a lot of money). If they respond with the latter, simply ask them "compared to what?". If they say a community college or state school, then you can talk with them about the differences a career college offers. If they say they don't have that much money, you certainly can help them with options, too. Make sense?