I know all fields are different, but in my field (education) most people have their graduate school "paid for" by their department/college. I had no idea about this and I paid my own way for my master's degree while I was still a full-time teacher. But then when I went looking for doctoral programs, I was pleasantly surprised that if I was offered some sort of assistantship/fellowship, they would pay tuition and some kind of stipend. The first year was a little rough (going from a good teacher's salary to a grad student salary) and I did take out a small loan. However each year after that, I was able to supplement my income with various projects and didn't take out any more loans.

So, if you are interested in school, you should ask your professor about the benefits of going straight to graduate school, funding possibilities, etc.

EDIT: Most people have their doctoral degrees paid for, but some places do support master's students. Since an MFA is a typical terminal degree in the arts, there might be funding opportunities for you.

EDIT 2: I had both fellowships and assistantships. My fellowship just paid me to go to school, in part because of my research interests, which means I didn't have to do any work for it. My assistantships ranged from teaching classes to supervising students in the field to working on professors' research projects. Good luck!