Oh CM, I'm sorry to hear you're having to go through all of this.
I'm so happy for you that you're getting such stellar responses from the schools.
I can't and don't want to try to give you answers to these things but maybe I can add some more points to the discussion from my own experiences. Be warned, they might seem to contradict eachother, but it's a complex situation.
Here goes:
1) Having a huge loan is a pretty big burden.
2) School is rarely 100% good or bad---there is lots of bullshit involved in all schools, but there is also a lot to be learned.
3) When you try to leave your hometown it often happens that people say things to you that sound like warnings, but really stem from either jealousy or fear. When I left Montreal (at the age of 28, not 18!) people said all kinds of crap to me to either try to hold me back, or make themselves feel okay about never having left their home town. (Luckily my family was behind me.)
4) Some parents send out "warning signals" when their children talk about really pursueing the arts because they secretly wish they had gone into the arts and are jealous. (Or maybe they held back from dreams in the arts or another field and are passing that along.)
5) An undergrad degree is often a starting place. I finished mine and was shocked to find out I wasn't really prepared to go straight into a job in that field. As someone said, the grad school you go to is more important than were you did your BA.
6) And...if you do go to Grad school---make sure you're not paying---they should pay you. (btw, a lot of universities milk their undergrads to pay for their grads.)
7) Follow your gut.
8) As someone else said, don't go into a program that feels like a major comprimise for you. Even if you do go to a "cheaper" school, doing a degree is still a major investment financially, time-wise, energetically, psychologically, etc...
In short I'd say---parents stuff aside---if you think Pratt is waaaay out of your range financially then you really need to think about the burden of a massive loan. This is especially the case if you want to try to get somewhere as an artist; to "get somewhere" often requires living leanly to begin with. (Then again if you're sure you want to go to grad school & become a teacher maybe you will eventually have a salary that can pay it off.)
But... that said... please
don't don't don't let yourself get stuck in a pattern of living out of fear of what the future will be like. (Similarly, in the long run holding yourself back for the sake of others isn't helpful to you or them.) The future is the
result of the present. Living in that way of constantly "saving up" for one day having a great life is bullshit. Especially for an artist. You need to trust your gut feeling & instinct about what feels right for you, that same spark and intuition you use to make art (I've seen your stuff and can tell you have it).
So... there's my rant. Good luck and....
....
...here are various rockbananas to cheer you on.
