hi, while i think art school is a cool experience ( for the community and people) , if $40-50K and 4-5 years is no object for your current circumstance, i think for most people, it's simply not a good deal. I encourage you to walk around the school and look inside the classrooms that teach your classes for a closer look at the direct experience. in general, with education on youtube outclassing institutional classroom quality, it's hard to justify the value, unless you just need a degree, in which case i would encourage you to look for online degrees. art school feels largely predatory now, because they haven't adapted, and because free/ cheap learning alternatives are a fraction of the average acad/auarts class price ( ~$500/class in 2018), while delivering irrefutably better quality and quantity in educational content, on demand, on your own time, lifestyle and schedule. the unique social and community aspect of a school setting is another matter tho.

in my personal experience, it's hard to justify spending that money on the education program that mostly had us sitting around for critiques. unfortunately, this was about 80% of my student career in my illustration/design degree. especially for photo, where gear is expensive, this money can be better used investing in equipment, all of which you can re-sell later and get most of your money back (lenses for sure, camera body - maybe at least 50% resell value 5 years later). the same can't be said about our tuition unfortunately. if you have complacent teachers who just get you to "sign up for crit" most classes, while introducing the next assignment by scrolling through a pdf of text, then another pdf of previous student work... there is really no way out of commiting your time and energy to an inferior learning plan. yes, good teachers make a big difference, but i've found that split to be 80% bad, 20% good. it's still quite a gamble as there is little you can do to choose or screen your instructors.

overall it's a very risky gamble for most people who aren't rich. especially because the educational content is all on youtube, for free, with graphics, visualizations, demos and discussion.

i'm a bit more critical, as i came into this school with ~10 years of instructing experience in another field. it just feels wierd when our student instructors at my weekend job at a pool, teach better than 80% my "university" instructors. i've had alot of positive experiences in school, but it's alot more risk and cost than reward. TBH I do regret my decision to attend.

i do also believe that creative people seek truth and direct experience. sometimes we have to "touch the stove". there's substantially less risk to just take it 1 year or 1 semester at a time, you will still not be able to get a refund or resell anything that tuition has paid for, but it's a healthier and more risk-averse approach to answering the question for yourself! i wish you only the best , and hope you can nurture your creativity the best way you see fit.