The option in this case is a product with two characteristics. I might be able to re-do this with characteristics, but that might be a lot of work--and it changes all the time since it's a class with dates. As I have it now, once I update the class dates on the main product, the product we are discussing now updates automatically.
There must be some "on_" code that is called when the value in the option drop-down box changes. Can't that just be called as part of the page load to make sure the value shows correctly?
Since it is entirely possible to have options that don't include "No" or a zero cost, it would seem like a code fix is better than having to re-figure how to present the product to the user.