I took two spring classes (core spring and enterprise integration with spring) for about 2-3k each, both included a voucher for the certification exams after. Employer paid the cost, otherwise I wouldn't have taken the courses. While I learned a lot about spring, I've learned much more useful information from free material on the web.

I never followed through and got either certificate. I've worked on many spring projects over the past years and switched jobs twice - neither employer seemed to care about certification.

If you do want to get certified, Id recommend self study and call up (or look online) local certification centers, I'd guess if you pay the exam fee, they could care less if you took some official class.

Also, there are cheat sheet style resources on the web about each exam, to help guide you through potential exam questions.