<p>There are many elements of truth to what Abcde11 has to say, but I think he downplays too much the value of the experience and contacts that can be made in a film school. It depends a lot on what you want to do, and you may not even know yet what you will be good at. Trying to work your way in on your own isn’t realistic for many people, you need a network and one of the best ways to get that is during college. Example, D just graduated from LMU, besides her own films, she probably worked on over a hundred other sets, gaining experience and the contacts for the jobs she gets now. Way harder to do that outside the context of a film school.
Now I totally agree that large debt is a bad idea for any degree, but especially in a field where you need to be prepared to live on unreliable intermittent income. If you can’t afford/be admitted to the top tier prestige schools, have you considered some of the CSU schools that lean more toward production. If you can afford Santa Barbara, why not CSUN which has a decent production program. </p>