I think you're going to have a sampling error with this question. I think that the people who are participating in a skating forum are going to feel like it was worth it. The others have already quit and aren't participating in a skating forum.
IMHO, nothing (figure skating, piano, etc.) is "worth it" if the bill payer (usually parents) puts themselves into financial ruin by taking on excessive debt. Regardless of the child's abilities, it is important to plan for the future responsibly. We recently made the decision (along with other financial clean up, cost-cutting and budget re-jigging) to reduce significantly our skating expenses as we are not blessed with a limitless income.
Is skating in some (reduced) capacity still "worth it"? Yes, I think so, but only as long as my child enjoys it. However, I don't feel that the thousands of dollars I spent were the best investment - we could have and should have limited the spending to more reasonable amounts more commensurate with our actual income levels.
I think this is also going to change based on where you are in life for perspective. Did your child go on to use their figure skating skills to work on a skating tour and see the world? Did they supplement their college income by being able to coach LTS or Basic skills? There's a young man in our club who is currently back to back on skating tours taking him to South America and Germany as well as many states. It was definitely worth it for him. We have a few girls in college able to supplement their income in college with LTS and Basic Skills coaching, which is definitely helping them. My coach is making a full time living from coaching that was initiated by her parents putting her in lessons at a young age. Conversely, if they get to the teenage years and drop skating entirely, it might sour your view on what you spent.
I think this is also going to change based on where you are in life for perspective. Did your child go on to use their figure skating skills to work on a skating tour and see the world? Did they supplement their college income by being able to coach LTS or Basic skills? There's a young man in our club who is currently back to back on skating tours taking him to South America and Germany as well as many states. It was definitely worth it for him. We have a few girls in college able to supplement their income in college with LTS and Basic Skills coaching, which is definitely helping them. My coach is making a full time living from coaching that was initiated by her parents putting her in lessons at a young age. Conversely, if they get to the teenage years and drop skating entirely, it might sour your view on what you spent.
My concern is less about the money and more about the time.
To be a really good figure skater, one has to forfeit alot of other opportunities. You wonder about those lost opportunities.
I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor, and another fig was Ee Gee, the amazing editor, and another fig was Europe and Africa and South America, and another fig was Constantin and Socrates and Attila and a pack of other lovers with queer names and offbeat professions, and another fig was an Olympic lady crew champion, and beyond and above these figs were many more figs I couldn't quite make out. I saw myself sitting in the crotch of this fig tree, starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet.
But that's with anything. Any choice means an opportunity lost.