That's not to unusual, I mean the cost for the buprenorphine programs. Being forced to pay upfront doesn't make them seem very legit though, so you're right to want to find other options. Have you tried finding something through a federal treatment register?
Do you have Medicaid or state insurance in WA? If you qualify, get on that pronto. There should be plenty of buprenorphine providers/programs that will cost little or nothing if you're on disability type health insurance. High quality private or employee insurance shouldn't cost you much out of pocket, but IME it isn't always the best for ORT services.
If you're able to, the best buprenorphine programs/providers I've encountered tend to be through hospital outpatient program (and the best out of those tend to be university hospitals). Unfortunately the best places like this tend to only be in major metropolitan areas (not always, but generally).
Otherwise, if money/location is a concern, give this a shot:
US Buprenorphine Providers
Still suggest you to try and get on insurance to help cover the cost, especially if you qualify for low income or disability, but that treatment finder is a good start.
Oh, and a quick aside:
I'm not inclined to snip it as things currently stand, but generally we don't allow discussion of pricing for this stuff on BL. In this case, as I said I'm inclined to just leave it be, because it is a hard reduction service. But for people who make future posts in this thread, please don't move the discussion further in the direction of costs of local programs.
It would be a wonderful discussion to have, but it's too complicated and there are too many vested interests at work for it to be worth the time of BL's volunteer staff to keep on top of. 
