In my case I looked out and saw what it offered and said, "No thanks." That's because I'm a unique individual and I have certain ideologies that you might not have. You may need structure or whatever it is you're wanting in a college, but I think I can do without. But not just doing without, doing better without it.
tl;dr: it's not about a anti-college, it's about choice. Everyone says go to college but at the end of the day I made a choice. And you have a choice and a right just as much as I do.
As part of the introduction for new students to the CS programme of my university, you get to meet a few people who graduated, and they talk a bit about what it's like getting through and out the other side.
After I graduated, I got invited as one of these people, and I also talked about choice. Most people that end up at university have been doing what society or their parents have been telling them all their life, and I told them that they should all really think about their studies and that for the first time in their lives they get to make real choice sabout their lives, and if they find out after a while that studying this CS programme sucks for them, then they shouldn't do it.
But if they enjoy computer science, if they avoid getting poached by companies before they've graduated, if they finish the slog and get their master's, they will end up having more choices than they would have if they had dropped out. You give up a little bit of freedom and opportunity now, for potentially a lot more later on.
Attending university opens some doors and closes others. But not attending also opens some doors and closes others. Some of these you can figure out beforehand, but most of it you have no idea about, so in retrospect it's impossible to know if your choice was the best one. I suspect all of us that are a bit older are wearing tinted glasses when we give out advice to the younger generation. :-)
That said, I have a bunch of friends who dropped out of university after figuring out it really didn't suit them, and they're doing great. Only one of them pondered going back to get his degree, and only because his company would pay for it, but he ended up not doing it anyway.
I don't regret my choice to finish my degree, even though it meant I missed the craziest years of the 90's dotcom boom. I think you won't regret your choice either. But remember that it's never too late to go to uni if you ever need it.
In my case I looked out and saw what it offered and said, "No thanks." That's because I'm a unique individual and I have certain ideologies that you might not have. You may need structure or whatever it is you're wanting in a college, but I think I can do without. But not just doing without, doing better without it.
tl;dr: it's not about a anti-college, it's about choice. Everyone says go to college but at the end of the day I made a choice. And you have a choice and a right just as much as I do.