Eric, I feel your pain. An 80% increase in anything is a shocker. If my golf equipment costs went up 80%, I might have to take up bocce ball. There are no expensive specialized tools ... and you don't lose the balls.
An 80% rate of "inflation" makes POTUS' economic programs look pretty good by comparison. Email the White House your story. I hear they are looking for good comparative news about their economic programs. You could get on CNN.
More seriously, since you were happy @ $299, let's see how much value you have lost with that $240 price increase. (As Jethro Bodine the Hollywood "stock magnet" says) we can "cyffer" the comparative value you could receive from that $240 in an available alternative investment opportunity. You could get equivalent value for your $240 investment by investing $240,000 in an ETF with a 0.10% ER. In the current market, if you are an average-skilled investor, you would have lost about 10% of your investment or $24,000. But since you indicate you were experiencing success with your AAII investments from the $299 program costs, it looks like the AAII deal is a better deal than the average passively managed investment can provide for the additional $240 cost. The good news is you only need to make $24,240 in the market in the future to cover your costs. There may be a profitable opportunity there yet.
Only you know how much you have profited from that $240 investment, so I leave it to you to reflect on the value you received for your $240.
Listen to Churchill, a man facing a lot more serious problems than any of us could ever possible have, on how to face problems:
"Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never ... quit."
Hope this helps. Hang in there, brother.
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BARRY JOHNSON
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