First off - 100K for an engineering program is insane. What school is charging 100K?
Here is my experience on the matter:
I attended SAE for about 9 months and I dropped out. Prior to doing that I was producing music at home for about 4 years. To be honest, the only thing I got out of SAE was some cool books, the laptop that they give you (which you ultimately pay for) and very limited access to some sick gear that I normally wouldn't have access to (like an SSL for example).
This is just my experience at SAE, but there I found that they really only touch on the tip of the iceberg on each topic. Its up to you to really put in the work, which you can do without paying to go to class there. You can teach yourself the fundamentals, which they stressed were the most important part of engineering, for next to nothing at home. For example at these schools they can teach you the frequency spectrum but at the end of the day its you who has to master the ranges and know what fits where.
I called a lot of studios and music houses in the tri-state area and asked if they'd hire someone with a 'certificate' over someone who didn't have one and they said no. Ultimately it comes down to your real life experience, instincts and talent (and luck). Even one of the teachers at SAE who has worked on records with Sonic Youth and a lot of other bands said that none of us are going to get engineering gigs right off the bat; even after completeting the program there, we'd have to intern somewhere and start at the ground up.
If anyone is thinking about going to one of these places I would combine
a) trying to get an internship at a studio/music house/somewhere... anything... no matter how entry level it is...at least youre in the real world
b) saving up some scrill to get what you think will fit your production needs and teach yourself the fundamentals and treat that ish like a full time job
c) if youre hell bent on going look into SAE's part-time program. I know kids who are 3, 4 years out of Full-Sail and still like $30K in debt. and all they have is some arbitrary certificate that said they completed an engineering program at the end of the day.
Half the kids I know from my class at SAE dropped out myself included. The other half work at guitar center by day or work at a small venue/bar at night maintaining the house soundsystem.
My opinion about these places is that they're a racket and unnecessary in working in any aspect of the music industry.
