Bang on. It's about having access to the things with which you'll be able control your destiny. As a hacker, I at least need access to these things: a good lap

Bang on. It's about having access to the things with which you'll be able control your destiny. As a hacker, I at least need access to these things: a good laptop, a high-speed internet connection, access to books, a little bit of extra money to attend local conferences/meetups, etc. Btw bootstrapping yourself is actually easiest if you're a computer hacker - imagine how hard it'll be if your passion is something else (maybe your dream is to build a kick-ass electric car). In developed countries, you can get access to this bare minimum stuff even if you didn't go to college and you're doing some part-time work while pursuing your dream on the side. In USA, you can move to a cheap, small town and save significantly on rent while not compromising that much on quality of life (if you ignore things like access to awesome restaurants, great night-life, etc). In India, if you move to a rural area, first of all you've to face 5+ hours of power cuts, no (high-speed) internet, expect to walk around with buffaloes, goats on the street - you'll be completely cut off from the mainstream). So it's very important you go to the best colleges in the country and get hired by the best companies, so you don't have to worry about these basic necessities. Things are of course continuously changing - another 20 years and maybe the standards of living will catch up with the West. Also if you don't go to college, then you can forget about visiting USA or anything other country ever. None of these countries will ever offer visas to people who haven't gone to college. This is not a problem if you were born American - the land of all great opportunities :-)