I don’t think college is for everyone. I don’t judge how smart someone is based on whether they went to college. I know people with HS diplomas who have done well enough for themselves, so I know it’s not a necessity. I also know people who I think only went to college because that’s what other people wanted them to do, and they ended crapping out and wasting money and time.
That said…
If you are able to get a degree, then I’d recommend getting one. Practically speaking, you stand to lose more by not having a degree than having one. Yes, there’s such thing as being overqualified for some jobs, but you’re much more likely to have doors closed in your face for being underqualified if you don’t have a degree. Everything that you can do without a degree, you can do with one. The converse is not true, however. This alone, to me, makes it hard to defend the decision not to further your education.
Also consider that it’s only 4 years. May seem like a long time for a young adult, but the time will fly by. Yes, it’s a significant chunk of change. But no one says you have to go to the most expensive school in the land, either. Plenty of people work and go to school at the same time, too. Not everyone does the dorm, poor-student-living-off-of-Ramen-Noodles thing.
Think about your peace of mind as well. Let’s say you don’t go to college and you get a job that starts eating away at your mind after a few years. But it pays you decently enough. With a degree, you might feel more emboldened to look for a better job instead of settling for whatever comes your way. Why? Because you have options that a non-degree holder does not.
I haven’t even addressed the intangible benefits that education can provide you with. All of that is important too. It’s perfectly possible to learn about literature, history, math, and science without setting foot in a school, but it’s significantly harder and requires a lot more discipline than sitting in lecture hall. So you may think you can learn everything that your college-educated peers are learning, and you wouldn’t be wrong; but you’re only fooling yourself if you think you actually will.
Hopefully you aren’t using this thread to seek validation for a choice that you’ve already made. I do think that having a college degree is overrated in terms of the judgements and assumptions that people like make (“If you don’t go to college, you’ll be homeless and poor!!”), but that doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s a wise decision to stop at a HS diploma. The world is only going to get more competitive. Why make yourself less competitive at this stage of the game?