Not necessarily true......actually had that conversation with alot of brewers. i have no education, even in biology and I have gotten my foot in the door. If you have a local brewery I would recommend offering up volunteering (cleaning brewhouse, kegs) in exchange for some knowledge. Brewers were once like you.
I started as a volunteer, got asked to come on part time for 6 months b/c the Asst. Brewer got hurt. Now I am interviewing with a large brewing company in California, and things are looking good. I just believe that your money is better spent elsewhere. I have seen so many posts on ProBrewer about Siebel grads looking for jobs. The three courses offered in the Associates program can be learned on your own time, for free. Now if you were doing the Master Brewer program I would say thats different because you will learn stuff there you'll only get in the industry.
Not trying to deter you from going from it, just giving you somethings to think about.