For some actual input, I went to college for a semester, for theatre, and realized if I want to be doing stuff in the arts, I'm just gonna get out there and do it, and not have to pay 20k a semester to learn stuff I probably will learn by going out and just doing.
I did, however, go to community college to get a diploma in culinary arts, so I can cook if/when I need to. That won't make it any easier to get a job in theatre, but it will make it easier to get money until I start earning it doing what I want to do, if I do at all.
I don't get the whole "liberal arts school" thing. I mean, I want to be an actor. I went to high school. I got a 35 on my ACTs. Why the hell do I need to take a math class? Either I take calculus, which I never use again, or I take a class that teaches me things I've already learned, and I'm wasting money because of pointless rules that don't affect my chosen career. I think more specialized learning would be fantastic. If you don't know what you want to be? Go to community college. You don't learn anything in those first two years at a fantastic liberal arts school that you wouldn't learn at your local CC, and you do so in the latter for a huge, huge discount. I know there are advantages to the bigger private schools, but college has really turned into a money making game, and that needs to be turned around.