There are extra lights on electric that go down to 7s. The fact is that the standard strings for acoustic are 12s and the fact that a usable acoustic starts at $500 new kind of shows how much of a misfit it is for people who are looking to try something out. My first guitar that I spent that much ($500+) on was 22 years after I first started playing.

There are tons of great $100-200 new electrics that are great for playing from almost every single brand now that a beginner isn't going to be forced to restring immediately (and remember that beginners don't know how to tune guitars, let alone string them).