[impendia]

Certainly getting pursuing a math degree is not a waste of time compared to only studying math on your own.

Washington has a fantastic math department, one of the top 30 in the country. Max Lieblich is an outstanding algebraic geometer and a brilliant lecturer. They have one of the top combinatorics research groups in the world. John Lee is a great differential geometer and a well-known and well-regarded author. William Stein is an expert in number theory and single-handedly started the SAGE project.

Do you think you could learn math better without these people's help, or with it?

The real point of a good university class, once you get through the required freshman stuff, is that it will expose you to a lot of amazing material that you don't know is out there yet, and simultaneously it introduce you to professors and students who are excited about this stuff. I anticipate that any of the professors I mentioned would be very happy to guide some independent learning/research if you finished some basic classes, showed some motivation, and proved that you were good.

Good luck!