I find it hard to imagine deriving $1900 of value from the class relative to spending the same amount of time learning independently from Halloway's book, which I can buy for approximately $30.
~$1000/day is pretty standard for corporate software training; I know a previous employer paid about that much to send me to a few SAP courses.
OK, I could see a corporation with a lot of money to splash around covering the cost as a way to motivate a developer...
The PragProg books are great. Can anyone comment on the quality of their classes?
The classes are very good. They always have top notch trainers like Dave Thomas, Mike Clark, and Stu Halloway. The class sizes are small, so you have lots of one-on-one time. Of course there's only so much you can learn in two days, so I think it's important that you have some knowledge going in. That way you're in a position to know what to listen for and ask.