Do some of you people ever stop squabbling, name calling, and back biting, long enough to actually listen, concern yourself with the issues in the topic, or even the issues generally? It is like listening to teenagers bickering.
Who cares what you pay for, how much your folks help out, or how nasty the new captains of industry are percieved to be? You are an adult (in some cases,) and the onus is now on you to be intelligent enough to do your own research to satisy your own requirements.
The idea that you pay a "vanity publishing" company a sizeable sum of money to print a box full of books in order than you can call yourself an author is fine. However that doesn't mean that those books are any better than they would have been had you not paid, nor does it mean you are now a commercial author. However that doesn't make you a bad person. It doesn't make the vanity publishing company a bad organisation, and who cares where you get the money from, other than you and the person who might lend it to you!
The problem is the belief that this type of industry will provide a realistic living for you. There seems to be a large section of people who believe that if they pay to buy their way in, something will then happen that changes the new reality into the old reality? At best it is the idea that you can run to stay ahead of the incoming tide. At worst it is a perception that the rules of the game will all be changed to simply embrace you at a convenient point in time.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter what you decide. If you want to pay for a "job" do it. If you are seduced by marketing, then that is great news for the marketeers. If you believe reality will morph to suit your own circumstances, then so be it. The whole point of offering any advice or observation, is that you have another tool and perspective to better enable you to plan and adapt. Use it or ignore it as you wish. However some of this childish banter is truly pointless and completely at odds with the qualities that anybody will ever consider for a position in this section of this industry. I mean left unchecked you would have pilots flying past their destination as they were too involved in heated discussions to prioritise their responsibilities.
In summary, do whatever you please, it is your life. However open your eyes before you step out into the unknown. Most importantly, you are now over 18, grow up.