A degree is simply a certificate of minimal competency. There's other ways to demonstrate competency than spending $100k on a degree.
I'm speaking from experience. I quit college during my sophomore year, got multiple job offers, and took a high-paying job writing compilers. How'd I do it? Entirely because I had a portfolio of substantial projects under my belt.
I know a few people who did very well despite the fact that they were college drop-outs. But what may work for programmers does not work for other people. For starters, writing code is a kind of work in which one's productivity and competence can be easily measured. If you have a lot of projects under your belt, you are essentially demonstrating that you can do stuff, and that is worth more than a diploma itself.
The dangerous thought is assuming that what works for programmers can work for other people. If you want to be a lawyer or a medical doctor, what projects can you have under your belt that demonstrate "can-do"? None?! Promoting the idea that an undergraduate degree is not valuable is an extremely irresponsible thing to do. I know that HN is a hacker community full of can-do over-achievers, but the rest of the world isn't like that... and perhaps it shouldn't be like that.
I'm speaking from experience. I quit college during my sophomore year, got multiple job offers, and took a high-paying job writing compilers. How'd I do it? Entirely because I had a portfolio of substantial projects under my belt.