Looks like I took a similar route as yourself. I went to a for-profit school for broadcast production. Coming out of high school I had no idea what I wanted to do and I ended up a Brown College in the Twin Cities. A year and a half later I had my associated degree and just shy of 40k in debt.

I graduated at the end of 08' and two months ago I quit my second job! The time between when I graduated and till two months ago I had been working 60-80 hours a week. While broadcast jobs out of the gate pay terrible, and I mean terrible. My first job out of college was as a PA job in market 153. I made more working part-time at Wal-Mart, a few things helped me get through those first few years. One of the biggest was the cost of living for where I was at. Rent, after splitting it with my roommate, was about $200 a month. Another was that I stopped eating out, thank you mom for teaching me to cook. I was also able to bike to both of my jobs for the first two years out of school, and I drove a Geo Metro, so I spent very little on transportation.

After two years in market 153 I took a directors job in another market. While I was making a decent amount more then I was at my previous production job, my cost of living about doubled so I still needed a second job, that is until I got a promotion a few months ago. Now, not only do I actually have some free time for the first time in my adult life, but the end of my student loans are in sight.

So while things may look a bit daunting now , if you enjoy what you do, keep trying. It's taken me the better part of seven years to get the point were I actually feel like there's an end to this pit I dug myself into, and now I'm looking forward to the future a bit more. Oh, and keep making connections if you really want to make a career in production. Who you know can help you just as much as what you know when it comes to getting a good job.