@LordWill, don’t randomly guess, use the NPC:
http://financialaid.usc.edu/undergraduates/prospective/net-price-calculator.html
Just need to do the math.
The average salary for a musician in LA is $46K per year. After deductions and taxes, that’s probably about $36K take home, or $3,000 per month, out of which you have to pay rent, utilities, food, transportation… I would bet that rent in LA is going to be at least $1,500.
If you borrowed $15K a year, you would graduate with $60K of debt. Interest rates for federal student loan is 3.76%, parent PLUS loans are 6.31%. Loans typically have 10 year terms. Your payments would run you $638 per month for TEN years, assuming $30K in federal student loans plus the rest in Parent PLUS loans.
Engineering and computer science is in a completely different realm in terms of entry level salaries. (I’m an engineer.)