I was a jazz studies major once. One of my teachers was considered to be the 2nd best saxaphone players in Detroit. He told us that if we wanted to be jazz musicians we should drop out of school immediately. I'm not saying that is what you should do, just saying what the 2nd best saxophonist in Detroit thought about a jazz studies degree.
It's true, jazz education is a joke. This is real jazz education. Honestly, the main reason I came to a school 8 hours from home is because I wanted to get away from my family. Three years later, I want to be as close to my family as I can.
No you shouldn't feel bad, it's something I've known and have personally been told by some jazz educators before. The heaviest of hitters never went to school and look at what they did? It makes one wonder the wonders of heroin though. I don't know that I'd ever go that far, but it makes one curious that's for sure.
I thought Coltrane and Miles did a heroin? Regardless, I know Coltrane's free jazz phase was clean.