Debt wasn't an issue in my case. My dad only did a couple semesters as well and the fund his mother started for him 70 years ago was transferred to me and my brother when we were born. It literally has been sitting and growing for 70 years.

I don't regret it at all. I was overly stressed and working too hard and doing way to many drugs to cope with the lack of sleep and lack of passion I was feeling towards film in general. I worked my ass off on projects I wanted to, kept close with my peers in my class, and continued to work with them. I just didn't do the classes anymore. I was still part of the community, which in a field like mine is a huge thing. Connections are everything in Film. Plus I'm a huge believer in "doing and creating to learn" rather than "study your butt off to learn." The classes like "Italian Cinema in the 1920s wasn't helping me in producing or editing films.

NYU's film program, especially for the first 3 years, requires you to direct your own film. However I didn't want to direct I wanted to produce so I was juggling writing and directing my own shorts while producing or assistant producing on thesis projects. I got more out of producing for these projects than I ever did in the classes.

Plus, my mental health was severely impacted by the workload I had taken on. If I had continued down the path I was taking, I would've definitely lost it. Something had to give and I chose to give up the piece of paper and classes over the thing I valued more - the set work.