[barrkel]

That's the wrong calculation. What you need to compare is the total cost of college + any expected premium from that attendance, with the opportunity cost - the next best thing you could be doing with that time.

In software, especially in the US, the calculation is not obviously in favour of college attendance for motivated autodidacts: the cost of attending is very high compared with the subsidized rates in other countries, while you can get experience cheaply by building things others use, and leverage that into a startup or job offers. Meanwhile, one of the key advantages for having a degree in a software-related discipline outside the US is that it makes getting a US visa far easier. But if you're already in the US (legally etc.), that doesn't apply.