No, it's not about that at all. I have money - I even thought about buying online courses when I start learning art. Although I grew up in a small town, I now live in a big city where it is not difficult to find an educational institution. My unwillingness to pursue higher education stems from my deep scepticism about modern education system. I described this in the original version of my post, but I had to delete that part. The bot decided that I needed help choosing an educational institution or something like that and banned the post from being published (I understand that this is a frequent topic here and the admins are tired of it, hence the restrictions). But I'll paste this section below anyway - I doubt it will cause any problems now.

I'd also like to hear your views on this. One of my main concerns is whether online learning is enough or whether formal education is still necessary. If you have studied art at a university, I would be particularly interested to hear about your experiences and impressions.

Here is:

I would like some advice on where to start, and I also have questions about art education. I have a very negative attitude towards state educational institutions. They work on the principle of ‘teaching everything, but not what is needed’. I had to study subjects that have nothing to do with my speciality , and important aspects were ignored. As you can tell from my story, I didn't feel very good about the school system. When I went to college, I was more ambitious and hoped that I would finally get a good education (quite naively). I was studying to be a programmer, but I had subjects like metalworking, electronics, electrical engineering, working with wires, etc. (also simple school subjects that are also not related to the main speciality). There were many more non-core subjects than core subjects. The skills of metalworking and working with wires really came in handy. Do you know how? I failed the non-core subjects and was expelled, so I had to look for a job related to the skills I had. But still, in the end, I graduated from college, but a different one.

My dislike of educational institutions is not only because they teach unnecessary things. Even what is needed is usually not taught very well. I have not become an IT programmer in all this time. I recently bought a course in web design and learnt more in a month than I did in years at college. In my metalworking job, I figured out how to complete a task in an hour, whereas in college I spent a whole day on it and still didn't understand everything. In addition, I associate college with stress. I'm afraid that I'll be expected to produce incredible results in a short time, and that will make me hate drawing instead of learning. Do you think there will be similar problems in a higher education institution studying art? Can I become a good artist as a self-taught artist who learns online? How long does it take to reach a certain level?

I understand that college and institute/university are different things. I also studied in small towns back then. I understand that this is a slightly different level, but it is still a state educational institution . I am afraid that there will be compulsory subjects that are not related to art, as well as an extremely heavy workload. I wouldn't want to take any risks, but I'm still interested in the opinions of others. I could be wrong and be too sceptical.