Been thinking about this a lot lately. Opted for a 2-year program (Associate rather than Bachelor), because when I was 18 I figured I already knew how to code and didn't need to spend a lot of time or money to going to college to prove it. I'm still not sure if this was the right decision. Not much college debt, but there are a few doors that are closed to me.<p>Now that I do more interviewing I've also noticed a low correlation in candidates between education level and programming competency. It's important to note that this is /after/ they've passed a technical phone screen though. I'm sure for the general population the numbers are much different. I think all my experience is reflecting is that if you know your stuff, it doesn't make a huge difference how you learned it. I'm also wary of some personal bias. :)