I'm probably an edge case, since I've dropped out of college twice because it just wasn't doing it for me. I plan on finishing because I want the piece of paper, but honestly there's no social aspect that you can't get elsewhere in some other capability. Then again I've never had a 'shell' to be ejected from, so I basically graduated from school with the plan of making something out of my life and have fun while doing it. In college I felt I was missing a whole lot of 'real life' and the fun was much to uninspiring for my taste. It felt like highschool, but with less retarded classmates to be honest.

Going to college is a good thing, but it certainly is not a prerequisite to achieve an amount of knowledge that gets you ready for the 'real wold', nor does it provide a cultural & social benefit to everyone. In any case, people here dismiss college because the ratio of cost to benefit is seriously close to rock bottom, and will probably have very little impact on your career after the starting years.