Here is an interesting Forbes (evil capitalist rag) article sure to provide food for discussion/debate: Five Reasons To Skip College - http://www.forbes.com/2006/04/15/dont-go-college_cx_lh_06slate_0418skipcollege.html?partner=alerts

"By this logic, the real economic value in a Princeton degree is not the vaunted Princeton education, but in signaling potential employers that you are smart enough to get into Princeton. Actually, attending the classes is irrelevant. A few years back, we even went so far as to speculate that an entrepreneur could build a healthy businesses by charging, say $16,000, to certify qualified high-school graduates as Ivy League material. (See: “ Is Yale A Waste Of Money?”) College-skippers could invest the $144,000 savings and have a nice nest-egg built up by the time they are in their mid-30s. And they could use their formative years between 18 and 22 to learn an actual trade."