> Part of the reason you go to school as a young person is that you do not have a family to feed or a house to pay off.
If you go to art school as a young person, you won't have the problem of paying off a house because you won't have a job that qualifies you for a mortgage.
My wife went to art school and is (somewhat embarrassing to me) supporting our family with her job at Amazon while I (a CS PhD) am looking for work. We even qualify for a mortgage with her income.
(Lesson: UX designers are as important as programmers)
There aren’t a lot of PL positions open right now, and I didn’t network as much as I should before. Along with the standard problems in applying for jobs (high stakes leetcode, ghosting after multiple successful rounds of interviewing, etc...), that I can’t just apply to a lot of positions means that it takes a bit longer than I would like.
I also have the luxury of waiting for a better opportunity rather than just taking the first one that matches.
A B.A., even in fine art, still opens up a ton of okay-paying jobs. Jobs like paralegals, retail managers, and HR often require a bachelors degree but don’t care what that degree was in.
But you can get a generic degree in English or business admin at a community college and have a fine career as a paralegal. Don’t see why you need to go to an expensive art school.
Agreed, I would never recommend someone go to art school unless they are absurdly talented ( and at that point: The school would probably give you a scholarship. )
If you go to art school as a young person, you won't have the problem of paying off a house because you won't have a job that qualifies you for a mortgage.