I went to the Arts Institute, usually abbreviated to Ai. The one I went to was in Boston, but there are a bunch of them all over. Its a two year program and it gives you an associates degree. It was pretty expensive ($25000+/-), but the gear was good and the teachers were great. I got to do a bunch of 5.1 mixes in PT, that was cool.
Anyway, when you're thinking about school and engineering, don't even think about doing it to get a job. If thats why you're doing it, you're better off going to business or medical school, those will almost always guarantee you a job after graduation. This audio engineering field is SMALL and getting smaller everyday. I went to school for audio engineering because thats honestly what I wanted to learn. I wasn't thinking "Where am I gonna get a steady job in this field afterward?" because anybody, even most of the teachers, will tell you that the chances are pretty slim. I wanted to know how to do all this stuff so that I could do my own thing and not start totally from scratch.
The other big thing schools like this offer is the intangible oppurtunity to network, which is the BIGGEST factor in getting a job in this industry, period. You could be the hottest engineer/ producer ever, but if you don't meet people, you're going nowhere.
And about starting a studio.... don't. I remember one class where the professor was talking to someone and they said thats what they wanted and he told them this is what they needed to do :
1-Sell everything you own
2-Collect every dollar you have to your name
3- Beg, borrow and steal everything you can from family/friends/complete strangers
4- Pile it all up in a vacant lot
5- Burn it all
6- Repeat
Then, if you're really lucky, maybe you'll actually get the studio off the ground. Oh, and if you're not in Nashville, LA, or NY luck won't even help you.
