TL;DR :) actually I read the first few paragraphs. I wanted to contribute though by saying that my impression is that the bulk of what they teach in a college

TL;DR :) actually I read the first few paragraphs. I wanted to contribute though by saying that my impression is that the bulk of what they teach in a college CS program is stuff that's present in books. Indeed, they use books. Well, those books are also available to any old random guy on the street, regardless of whether you involve a college or not. And if you take advantage of those books (and when I say books I mean text and diagrams, even in digital or online form, etc., that part doesn't matter so much) directly, you have the benefit of saving a hell of a lot of money and time, and gaining way more freedom to learn at your own pace, where and when you have time. You can skip over things you already knew, and spend more time on the parts you need to. Much more so than at a university. It's not completely superior, of course, because there are some positives to college CS programs. But whenever I hear someone talk about how college CS education is great because you learn about data structures and algorithms and "fundamentals" I think, well, you can learn about those things without involving college either, and therefore the elements are confused.