The best idea is to have a job, any job, while going to college. This shows you have work experience when looking for that job after graduation. Part of the reason jobs want a college degree is the basic knowledge, but it also shows you have the determination and time management skills to make your way through getting a degree. This applies to jobs too; having some sort of work experience shows you have basic knowledge of showing up on time, following other company rules, earning a paycheck, etc.

Your question seems to be more about managing personal finances. It's all about balancing the short term and the long term. Short term you need to pay your bills and invest your money in a college education only if it will pay you more over the long term of your life. Having a degree generally puts you at a higher starting salary and higher earnings for the rest of your life. Most college students sacrifice (live on ramen noodles) in order to have a better future. Say your job gives you a 3% raise every year; that 3% is much more when the starting salary is higher... then compound that over all the years you'll be working - it's a big difference!

Once you get that job with a great salary, you can choose to be smart with your money or not (personal finance). Taking on a huge house or car loan is not smart. The alternative is living as cheaply as you can while you pay off loans and create an emergency savings account. Once you have no debt, start putting everything you can in savings so you can buy the next car in cash. Check out DaveRamsey.com; he's got lots of great, free advice.

You'll earn more than what you'll spend in paying for your studies in your job if you finish college. The feeling of being underpaid is terrible. If you do not finish college, you will realize someday that you are capable of doing things beyond what you are doing right now, yet you are not. It is like they are paying for what you can do that everyone else can do, even if you are capable of doing things others can not. A college degree brings that "specialty" of yours to the noses of those who receive applications for jobs.

And if you contradict me by saying that "Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey became rich and famous first before going to college.", then suit yourself. The odds that you will land the same opportunities and proper decision making in times they did it, is very fat. Or slim.

I see what you mean. But the thing is, is you won't get a decent paying job until your done college. Then it won't take as long to pay off the loans, right? Plus, if you work first, it's going to be that much harder to start college when you've saved some money.

And chances are you won't get the experience you need until college. If you want to be an architect, a doctor, or even a teacher, you won't get the necessary experience working the cash register at walmart.