I anticipate having to take out between $50,000 and $100,000 in loans to finance a degree.
I hate to say it, but you've been fucked up the ass. It's not your fault, just when and where you are born. The Boomers stole the future and that's why housing and education are so expensive. The higher education industry has been using its gateway to the middle-class job market as a extortion racket for decades, erecting gigantic buildings while depriving the middle class of savings-- sapping parents of the upper-middle-class and putting the lower-middle aka "working" class (sorry, but that's you, if you're worried about $50-100k of debt) into indentured servitude. It's bullshit, it's horrible, it's wasteful, and it's wrong. It's not at all your fault. But we can't change any of that, now can we?
First of all, yes you should go. I actually think you should aim for Stanford or Harvard if you can pass admissions. I'd advise a state school with a full ride over Harvard with debt, but if you're already going to be in debt, you might as well swing for the fences. The quality of education isn't that much better (variations within schools-- of professor, class, and student quality-- are much greater than those between them) but the connections and brand matter, especially if you want to do Silicon Valley or Wall Street.
Degree snobbery is huge, even in software. People don't admit to it, because it's socially unacceptable-- let's be honest, here; even the supposedly meritocratic game of college admissions is 75% socioeconomic status-- but that's the truth. You might be able to establish yourself in front-end engineering, develop independent credibility, and move forward from there. Might. If the market goes south, you'll be one of the first ones sloughed off. Also, when you're 35-- I'm 30 and age comes quicker than you'd think-- you might get tired of typical software bullshit and want to move into R&D, or go for finance, or to become a founder. All of those are going to want to see degrees, and good ones. (UIUC is good, especially for graduate school. Stanford will open the Valley; Harvard's best if you want Wall Street.) Most R&D labs have PhD Bigotry issues, and Wall Street isn't bigoted per se but is just really competitive and the degree can cut you in.
Here's one thing about degrees. I went to a great but not-that-well-known undergraduate college (Carleton, in MN). I do not have a graduate degree (did one year in a math PhD program, left for Wall Street). Now, to be blunt, I'm smart as fuck and top-5% material (probably top-1%) even in the Harvard, Stanford, MIT pool that is chasing venture funding away. If I need to prove my intelligence, I always can, and it's not hard for me. But it is always better to be presumed smart than to have to prove it. Why? Because impressions are made quickly (120 seconds) and it's really hard (nearly impossible) to prove top-flight intelligence quickly without also being socially unacceptable (or, in clearer terms, sounding smart but full of yourself). Better to have your degree talk you up for you; it can be your career wingman. Degrees fucking matter; don't listen to the people who say otherwise. They're divided between people who don't have elite degrees and are deluding themselves or unaware of the opportunities they're missing, and those who do have the degrees but want to downplay their effect (for obvious reasons).
You may want to work for 2 years and build up some savings and work experience (in light of the $60-80k job, if that's available to you). That can also make you "nontraditional" and it can help you in admissions. You may also want to apply for scholarships in that time. I wouldn't take more than 2 years out of education, though, and only for full-time employment is it socially acceptable (in the US) to take a gap year. Non-work, non-military gap years for Americans scream "upper-middle-class shiftless fuck"-- you know, the idiots who "travel" on their parents' dime to "find themselves" and really just drink and slut it up-- even if you're the opposite of that. But you can justify a work gap year or two by just saying, matter-of-factly, that you needed the money. No one will question you further. People who can pay their way though college, this day in age, are impressive as fuck because that ain't easy.
There are also subjective reasons to go to college. Computer science is a really beautiful field and even I find myself wishing I knew more about it. I won't cover them as much. Some people learn a ton without schooling, others go to impressive schools and learn nothing. That one's more up to you. I think the objective case for getting your degree is much stronger.
Good luck. And read hglaser's post. He says a lot of things I would have included in mine but he already covered them.
I hate to say it, but you've been fucked up the ass. It's not your fault, just when and where you are born. The Boomers stole the future and that's why housing and education are so expensive. The higher education industry has been using its gateway to the middle-class job market as a extortion racket for decades, erecting gigantic buildings while depriving the middle class of savings-- sapping parents of the upper-middle-class and putting the lower-middle aka "working" class (sorry, but that's you, if you're worried about $50-100k of debt) into indentured servitude. It's bullshit, it's horrible, it's wasteful, and it's wrong. It's not at all your fault. But we can't change any of that, now can we?
First of all, yes you should go. I actually think you should aim for Stanford or Harvard if you can pass admissions. I'd advise a state school with a full ride over Harvard with debt, but if you're already going to be in debt, you might as well swing for the fences. The quality of education isn't that much better (variations within schools-- of professor, class, and student quality-- are much greater than those between them) but the connections and brand matter, especially if you want to do Silicon Valley or Wall Street.
Degree snobbery is huge, even in software. People don't admit to it, because it's socially unacceptable-- let's be honest, here; even the supposedly meritocratic game of college admissions is 75% socioeconomic status-- but that's the truth. You might be able to establish yourself in front-end engineering, develop independent credibility, and move forward from there. Might. If the market goes south, you'll be one of the first ones sloughed off. Also, when you're 35-- I'm 30 and age comes quicker than you'd think-- you might get tired of typical software bullshit and want to move into R&D, or go for finance, or to become a founder. All of those are going to want to see degrees, and good ones. (UIUC is good, especially for graduate school. Stanford will open the Valley; Harvard's best if you want Wall Street.) Most R&D labs have PhD Bigotry issues, and Wall Street isn't bigoted per se but is just really competitive and the degree can cut you in.
Here's one thing about degrees. I went to a great but not-that-well-known undergraduate college (Carleton, in MN). I do not have a graduate degree (did one year in a math PhD program, left for Wall Street). Now, to be blunt, I'm smart as fuck and top-5% material (probably top-1%) even in the Harvard, Stanford, MIT pool that is chasing venture funding away. If I need to prove my intelligence, I always can, and it's not hard for me. But it is always better to be presumed smart than to have to prove it. Why? Because impressions are made quickly (120 seconds) and it's really hard (nearly impossible) to prove top-flight intelligence quickly without also being socially unacceptable (or, in clearer terms, sounding smart but full of yourself). Better to have your degree talk you up for you; it can be your career wingman. Degrees fucking matter; don't listen to the people who say otherwise. They're divided between people who don't have elite degrees and are deluding themselves or unaware of the opportunities they're missing, and those who do have the degrees but want to downplay their effect (for obvious reasons).
You may want to work for 2 years and build up some savings and work experience (in light of the $60-80k job, if that's available to you). That can also make you "nontraditional" and it can help you in admissions. You may also want to apply for scholarships in that time. I wouldn't take more than 2 years out of education, though, and only for full-time employment is it socially acceptable (in the US) to take a gap year. Non-work, non-military gap years for Americans scream "upper-middle-class shiftless fuck"-- you know, the idiots who "travel" on their parents' dime to "find themselves" and really just drink and slut it up-- even if you're the opposite of that. But you can justify a work gap year or two by just saying, matter-of-factly, that you needed the money. No one will question you further. People who can pay their way though college, this day in age, are impressive as fuck because that ain't easy.
There are also subjective reasons to go to college. Computer science is a really beautiful field and even I find myself wishing I knew more about it. I won't cover them as much. Some people learn a ton without schooling, others go to impressive schools and learn nothing. That one's more up to you. I think the objective case for getting your degree is much stronger.
Good luck. And read hglaser's post. He says a lot of things I would have included in mine but he already covered them.