If the question is which option will be more lucrative over your entire lifetime, nobody here or anywhere else will be able to give you an iron clad answer. That said, I can just about promise you that four years of college will expose you to more "stuff" than working as a developer somewhere for four years will, so I'd recommend it for that.
I entered as a freshman who could already program. I wasn't amazing, but I was ok. I liked programming, and had a good intuitive sense for it. What I didn't know before I went was how much I actually didn't know... and I don't mean about programming, although that is part of it. I mean how many interesting subjects there are in CS, some of which turned out to be far more interesting to me than the actual programming.
A university probably isn't the best job training program for a developer, but maybe you'll find out you don't actually want to be a developer? That's what happened to me while I was there and I wouldn't trade finding something I was really passionate about for four years of income.
So my advice would be go if you can, and take advantage of it while you are there. You may get more than a piece of paper or a higher salary out of it.
I entered as a freshman who could already program. I wasn't amazing, but I was ok. I liked programming, and had a good intuitive sense for it. What I didn't know before I went was how much I actually didn't know... and I don't mean about programming, although that is part of it. I mean how many interesting subjects there are in CS, some of which turned out to be far more interesting to me than the actual programming.
A university probably isn't the best job training program for a developer, but maybe you'll find out you don't actually want to be a developer? That's what happened to me while I was there and I wouldn't trade finding something I was really passionate about for four years of income.
So my advice would be go if you can, and take advantage of it while you are there. You may get more than a piece of paper or a higher salary out of it.