concur, although i noticed that the increase is more with all star potential and up. 18 y/o with lower potential are more reasonable but still higher than expected.
best bet is to get 18 or 19 y/o with some flaws - example i got a nice 19 y/o SF trainee. every skill needed was reasonable except JS - inept :(
@aussie, yeah hard to ind much value out there at the moment