if you're looking at just doing your own thing as an independent engineer helping the college band and beer joint circuit crowd, or just recording and producing your own stuff, the piece of paper probably won't do you much good in that regard.
If you're looking to get a job in a professional industry position (which may not necessarily be recording your favorite music in a music studio), these days it's hard to beat the bigger name schools, as they have pretty much cornered the market on getting internship positions for their students from the larger studios and production companies. The days of hanging around the back door of Sun Records and getting coffee for Carl Perkins on Monday and working ans AE on a hit record on Tuesday have for the most part been lost to the reach of places like the Columbia School of Broadcasting and Full Sail and the like.
I'd be careful of some of the smaller community college and for-profit training school programs, though. There are some good ones out there, but there are also a lot that are much better at taking your money than they are at getting you internships after class is over. Research before you leap.
And finally, one can only get out of such classes and training what they put into it. There are those that take to class instruction well, and those for whom such an environment is just not for them, and do better on their own. If you're not one who typically cared all that much for the school environment or learned better on your own than you did in class, or expect to be taught everything on a silver platter, class instruction may not be the best way to spend your money. If you did well in school, and have the initiative to take advantage of the facilities supplied to you, then you can get your money's worth.
G.
