School is very expensive. You can expect to spend about 6K for a crash course in animation as well, but I highly advise against attending such programs for the above mentioned reasons. You get what you pay for. Private schools such as Ringling, Sheridan, etc. will cost you a lot more than state run schools (like twice as much or more!). They’re a bit more picky about who they accept and pride themselves in producing top quality graduates. They not in the business of making sure “X” number of students graduate each year, they have their reputations to uphold…hence the dramatic increase in the quality of the education. You will most likely be paying out of state tuition at one of these schools, but federal aid is available to you at most accredited institutions, so always look into that before you choose school “A” over school “B”. I’m not about to suggest that you can’t find the education that you want where you live, the education curriculums change all the time and more and more schools are offering Animation programs. Just be sure that the school you attend is the right one for you, because in all likely-hood, you won’t be able to afford another education at another school after that. A lot of information on different schools is now available on the Net. Check ‘em out.