there is a fault in VFP - you must tell VFP which 'ON' statment relates to which 'JOIN' statment ie:-

SELECT Payment.*, Instructor.*, Customer.*, Student.*;
FROM ls!payment LEFT OUTER JOIN ls!instructor;
ON Payment.pay_inst = Instructor.ins_inst;
LEFT OUTER JOIN ls!customer;
ON Payment.pay_acct = Customer.cus_acct;
LEFT OUTER JOIN ls!student;
ON Payment.pay_acct = Student.stu_acct and ;
Payment.pay_sub = Student.stu_sub

I hope this helps.

Alec Dearden.