I played oboe for 4 years since starting in middle school as well. I can tell you that oboe is a very expensive instrument to play, maintain and learn. Reeds can cost $20-$30 a piece, don’t always work to your liking and degrade easily if you don’t break them. The oboe itself is expensive as well, a good beginner oboe costs a minimum of $2500 and a preferable one to use during college years would cost a minimum of $5000.
I can probably say I spent at least $2000 on reeds and equipment since starting oboe. But overall, it’s been a great frustrating experience and a lot of fun to play. I got to play in pit orchestra as a freshmen in high school this year and it was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had.
For my school’s band program, if I wanted to stay in the band program next year, marching band would be a requirement. So I took up flute. I got a $90 Gemeinhardt 2SP off eBay that retails for about $300. I took it to a repair shop and got everything overhauled for just under $100. Great, now I have a working good flute for less than $200 vs $3000 finicky oboe w/ $30 reeds.
I self taught flute for the past month. It’s 1000x easier than oboe and I actually sound decent. The fingerings are similar to oboe, except for a few differences. I’ve got a pretty good grasp of it and the only trouble right now are high notes that are common in marching band music. And I’ll be the only male flute player in the marching band out of 22 flutes, so that’ll be fun.