It sounds like we could be talking about the same kid. My nephew graduated from the film school at NYU. My sister was warned not to do it but she put out $100,000 in tuition/board (that she didn't have) and I put out $50,000 (she's my kid sister).He's earned about $1,000 in the eight years since he graduated.
I took a few semesters of TV production at a tech college that I paid for myself.
My first full time job in TV paid 14,635 a year in the mid 90s.
Just as well I didn’t go to film or media arts.