I agree with Rebecca. Seemingly it’ll be a 40k loan for Think Tank, if you can swing that on a private loan. That’s a lot of mullah for one year of education. That’s not to say it isn’t worth it, as a quality education is incredibly helpful so don’t think I’m saying to not go. I just think in this day in age there are a lot, and I mean a lot of opportunities for educating oneself for very little money, if you are truly dedicated and truly want to learn.
For instance, most of the major CG training websites have subscription fees that are considerably less than 40k a year.
The Gnomon Workshop is $499 a year: http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/subscription/pricing.php
Digital Tutors is $399 a year: http://www.digitaltutors.com/11/pricing.php
If you get subscriptions to both of those you should be able to get as much training as you will need to get you going on a portfolio. I’m not sure what your timeline is like, but if you have time, i.e. are just out of high school or something, then what would be the harm in taking 6 months or so and see where you can go with the subscriptions? The least you will find out is that either a) you learn, or b) you don’t learn. Either way I doubt Think Tank is going anywhere, so if you find out you absolutely have to go, then at least then you will have a much more solid foundation as to why and can rest assured that you will be borrowing money on a firmer understanding of the situation.
If you’re interesting in networking then you are at the right forum as there are literally thousands of individuals here. Use that resource to get as much free critique and insight into the industry as possible. Be proactive in talking to people, send PM’s to artists you like and ask for critique on your work. It’s truly amazing what we have available to us if we put in the effort.
As an aside, I too was in your shoes once. I wanted to get into the CG industry and looked at several colleges, albeit it was about ten years ago so the prices were much cheaper then. I was accepted into a school which would have been about 80k for the entire four year curriculum. I opted out of it because it was way, way too much money for someone who had been borderline poor most of his life. So I decided to train myself, buying Gnomon videos on VHS!!! and reading manuals and the like until after about two years I was able to get a portfolio together that was good enough to get plugged on the front page here on CGtalk, which led to a job about a month later. Granted that wasn’t two years of easy studying, as I had a day job and only had a few hours each day to work on learning, but I did it. I spent way more than the price of the subscriptions listed above on training materials. I would have loved to have had that option back then.
Anyway, hope this helps out somewhat. I honestly think it’s pretty wise that you’re questioning the cost now, as that’s not usually the case with most people. I think you’ll go far if you keep with that line of thinking. 
