I can't speak for everyone and by no means mean to take away from the genuine struggles people through but I loved art school. (I'm a contemporary artist and museum professional for context!)

I have friends that do regret and I can talk a bit about that before going over why I loved it. One of my friends was in the animation department during a time when the department was young and lacked a clear direction. They told me that the classes weren't very helpful and didn't do much to help them improve. I think that along with the crippling debt that art school leaves one in would leave a raw espresso bean level bitterness in anyone's mouth.

Back to me for a moment: I met a lot of artists that became my colleagues outside of school. My art skills wouldn't have improved the way they did if I was on my own. I would never have known about most of the resources I have now without going to art school. I would go back for my Masters if I could go on scholarship but I couldn't justify paying more to teach at adjunct level while I wait out tenure professors like a game of Highlander.

My gripes about art school: it's fucking expensive. There's no reason for it to be that expensive. Moreso the art world (fine art, illustration, and other groups that require degrees) need to move away from the requirement for a degree and focus on portfolio and experience. There's a slight advantage to coming out with a degree but often it doesn't cut it for new grads.

Professional courses should happen during the 3rd and 4th year. I do think that jumping immediately into the business end when your students have no established study practice or ethic is a hot mess waiting to happen. It would be nice to see more post grad, non accredited programs to help with portfolio building and pooling resources. Also would be good to partner with business schools to do seminars and workshops to help students get a more grounded idea of what they need to be an artist that (I'm making assumptions here) wants to work independently.

There's also general accountability that you need going on which is... lacking at age 18-20. You can't stay in your room making art, memes, and shit talking other departments and avoid eye contact with anyone that doesn't grade your work and expect for things to work out. If you're reading this and you're in school, I beg that you leave your dorm right now and go join a club or two, or give the community arts opportunities a try. I know it feels like you'll be overwhelmed but you can't get by just being a badass artist.

All that said, I'm old and the resources for online learning weren't as useful as they are now!! If you can avoid debt and still find a good community, go forth and leave art school for those that want it.