Hi and welcome to our board hope you stay a while.
$40 for a beginner class is quite reasonable I think I paid $60 for mine. We had an excellent instrutor that walked you through everything including cutting properly. She always tells you the "proper" way of doing things and then she'll show us "short cuts" to do the same process. If I hadn't of taken the class I probably would have given up on my own out of frustration.
Before too long you'll be like the rest of us with a big "stash" of fabric. Other good place to check out on our board is the section to sell stuff. Lots of great fabric for a fraction of the cost at the quilt stores.