i went to college for 3 semesters before dropping out because i couldn't afford it, and i didn't think going into debt with student loans was going to work. i took a part time job during the 2nd semester, and went full time hours during the summer. tried to schedule classes around work for the 3rd semester, but that didn't work well either. so i just decided to stop throwing money at school, and self-taught with a lot of OJT from some very cool engineers that seemed to enjoy some young kid appreciating their experience and knowledge.

tl;dr i got lucky