This is exactly what seems to have spooked you in looking up the alum outcomes at the top of the thread. Your teachers have chosen a challenging path- and because you are inspired by them, I’m guessing it’s a choice that they are happy with: they work those multiple jobs because it lets them patch together the performance pieces, and share their love of music with the new ones (like you) coming up behind them.
Not sure why you still have a choice to make (unless you just came off a waitlist), but is the question really ‘is a degree worth it’? is it ‘should I go with CMU or Columbia’? or is it something else?