Do you have to have "lessons" to be a good songwriter?...In my experience some of the best songwriters are completely self taught......some of the best have only had a basic scholastic education and are self taught musicians.....Having heard a lot of songs from folks who have attended songwriting lessons, seminars and workshops and various other forms of mentoring I do not think they have learned that much or indeed have been taught that much....they just seem to copy the style of the mentor, rehash what has been done before or rip off the current fads and fashions.
What counts is the motives for a famous successful writer offering to cowrite with a newbie wannabe...and the wannabes motive for paying for a cowrite....usually if a payment is involved it sounds like scamming delusional people to me.
It is sad that you have to have contacts before even having the chance to submit material or be taken seriously....and that is the main reason we have so many scammers.....yet another example of why a fool and his money are soon parted.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=5238055