See my recent blog post. Frank Herbert, the author of Dune, who is the basis for Star Wars... so you could probably say that Frank Herbert is one of the 5 most important scifi authors of all times, is a college dropout.

So, yes, I'd say that you can do just fine without college. I have a Ph.D. Heck, even a post-doctorate. I have research grants, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows... I have all of the this, but I will not encourage my own kids to go to college.

Can college help you? Sure. Absolutely. Is a degree necessary? I do not think so.

I tend to believe that the first year of college, or maybe the first two years, are all that matters. After these first two years, you have learn the key points you needed to learn. You can then pretty much go on your own and learn faster and better.