[logn]

I agree with what aaronchall said. I'll add that you should consider the cost of college. If you're going to take out burdensome student loans and/or put your parents in debt (that they can't handle), it might make more sense to skip college, or to consider community college (it's cheap), state schools (if yours is cheap), or scholarships.

Finances aside... I don't see employers hiring a high school grad who also has no experience. During high school, start freelancing on projects that can be listed in a portfolio (not backend/proprietary apps), or convince someone to give you a part-time job (even if it's just installing printers), or do projects for charities.

Also there's nothing wrong with taking a year off after high school and seeing how things pan out.

Importantly, once you have a few good years of professional programming experience, the difference in not having a degree is a lot less. But some companies will still not hire you because of red tape, and some mega corps will put you in a lower pay bracket.

Keep in mind that hiring patterns vary by geography. Take a look at degree requirements in job ads where you want to work and note the in-demand skills. Also remember that many jobs are not posted on job boards. Start networking too (find a local hackerspace or look around on meetup.com).

> I know that if I went to college, a lot of what I know would be repeated

Probably just the first year material. If you want to avoid this then take the AP comp sci exams. Or opt for the easy A's.