I know what you mean, I'm pretty much in the same boat. It's hard to make a decision, not knowing the outcome...
If you're really, really passionate about game-design, go for it. Get yourself a loan and be the best possible.
However, I'm probably going to take a year off when I graduate this year and focus on learning Maya and other packages. I feel that there could be a chance that I don't want to do that for a living, and I'd rather find out while losing a year then spending 100k and finding out...
The only advice I can give you is this, forget about deadlines. If you're not completely sure about what you want, take some more time to figure out. Get a fairly paying job somewhere, enjoy your free time and figure out what you want.
I also believe that, even though college degrees are a great asset, the only people that get great jobs are those that are really skilled. Now you do learn those skills in college, but buying tutorials from simplymaya/digital tutors/gnomon/lynda/total training can get you really far as well.
Last edited by IJke; 17-05-2007 at 09:21 AM.