I agree with college being overrated, nevertheless, it opens up many doors which you otherwise would not have. Unless your goal is to only be a small business owner or attached to a job that took a chance on you, you would effectively be shooting yourself in the foot. Sure some fields don't care about degrees, but career flexibility and mobility would be lost in the event that you find yourself jobless in the future. It would be of benefit to have any generic STEM degree from a cheap in-state university paired with the self-educating mindset.
I did the community college -> state school transfer route and have never needed loans. The student loan debt meme is a myth. Most students with high debt loads have them due to personal decisions from moving out to choosing private colleges, etc.
