$200k for journalism and media studies was a bad investment. It's a tough message, but you have to invest in education more intelligently than 'throw money at it and hope for the best'.
I disagree. In a country with free press, journalists play a critical role in uncovering truths and disseminating the information among the public.
The problem is that the vast majority of people with the title "journalist" today aren't really journalists. They're just brain-dead writers for news conglomerates and PR firms. And yes, getting a degree just for that is dumb. But if you want to become an investigative journalist, then getting a degree for it is a very good idea.
The popularity contest that is the online blogosphere is more important financially than hard work and legitimate, high-quality journalism that they teach. There's almost no money in that business anymore.
Which generally don't even have journalism programs.
It wasn't $200K for the journalism and media studies degree (it was $189k total for two students, only one of which got a journalism and media studies degree.)
And, maybe the journalism and media studies degree from Rutgers would have been a good investment -- if the student wanted to be a journalist; instead, he seems to have wanted a Hollywood film career, but for some inexplicable reason paid for a fairly expensive journalism degree, rather than seeking a film-related degree.
A Rutgers journalism degree might be a good choice (though still probably not going to pay off quickly, in net financial terms) if you want a career in journalism.
If you want a career in Hollywood, you probably want to get a film or related degree from a school where the department has Hollywood connections; I've heard (though I've never seriously researched it, since it was never my interest when going to school) that UCLA is fairly good in this regard. (And, you probably want to research what it takes to actually make a career in Hollywood, and be doing that while you're in school, rather than hoping that just getting a degree is going to magically open doors.)