Other posters have emphasized the apparent declining value of college. I agree with their positions, but I would like to emphasize that college isn't so much about becoming a better programmer as it is about gaining deep knowledge in an _academic_ area (not practical), broadening your knowledge (something you should do if you're only good at programming), a very particular and magical social setting that you will only have access to for 4-5 years after the age of 18 (you never get those years back and if you spend them working, then you missed a chance to have a _unique_ experience. You will be working your whole life. You can only go to college for the first time once.)<p>Studying an academic discipline may seem pointless to you, and that's fine, but if you do decide to go to college, I would recommend that you see it more as a luxury than a means to an end. Try to geek out and enjoy yourself, purely intellectual pursuits are one of the main reasons for living in this world.<p>Two other perks of university:<p>(1) if you get into a good one, people will be more likely to respect your opinion. By good one I mean name brand: Harvard, Columbia, Cornell, Princeton, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, etc. This is perhaps an unfortunate artifact of the transition from a more stratified society to (an even more stratified) meritocracy that may disappear in our lifetimes, but it's very much the case now.<p>(2) you will learn how to write better. This is super important.<p>All that said, there's no reason to go into 100-200k of debt. I managed to get out of university with no debt thanks to inexpensive tuition in Canada, but I promise you that university is not worth 10-30 years of wage slavery.