I was in a somewhat similar situation 4 years ago when I was trying to decide between DAAP and Art Center, I remember calculating my expected loan amount from Art Center, and benchmarking salaries through Coroflot it would have taken somewhere between 12-15 years to pay off if I was really aggressive whereas my expected loan amount from DAAP (with in-state) was a fraction of the time, maybe 4-5 years if even that.
While Art Center is a phenomenal school that puts out great designers, as someone who’s also paying their way through college themselves it was a no brainer which school to choose.
220K is a massive financial burden to take on, but at the end of the day it’s not an insurmountable amount to pay off depending on what you think your earning potential would be, and how comfortable you are living in debt.
Can’t really give any insight on the car industry, I’ve heard mixed things from people who’ve worked in it. From what I’ve heard, at least at the entry level, it seems like it’s a bit of a machine that spits out a lot of burnt out designers after a couple of years, but once you make it past the hazing experience I think it’s somewhat more lucrative and less stressful.