Question: Bachelor in Animation or not ?

Hi :-)

I am 30 years old and I've been a Cartoonist and Illustrator for years. Lately I've seriously been considering doing a bachelor in either Game Design or Animation.

I originally wanted to attend an Art School in my early 20's, but I ended up studying something that isn't creative at all instead. I regretted it for years and could not express my creativity in the field I was in. So I started becoming a Freelance Graphic Designer and Cartoonist on the side and eventually full-time. I took a few classes there and there (Adobe Suite, HTML, Night Art Classes etc.) but no full-time studies, because of time and financial reason.

Now the situation has changed and I would be able to go back to school full-time. I've already started applying to a few very competitive Animation and Game Design schools. They accepted my Portfolio and I am waiting for their final decision.

I really hope this is the right decision though. Some people are telling me I could learn this stuff on my own without doing a bachelor in the field. Is this true or is that just something people say ? I would really like to learn from this experience and I was hoping that attending a good school would open some doors for me.

I would really appreciate if people in the field could share some insight on the subject. Unfortunately I don't know anybody who went to school to study Game Design or Animation that I can ask
All I know is that these are really competitive fields, but I am up for the challenge and the hard work. That's not what I'm nervous about.

One more question... will it matter later in my career path if I went to a really competitive school or not ? Will people who hire me for artistic projects take the good schools into account or will it all come down to the portfolio anyway ?

Thank you for your help