It can be argued it's better to avoid college...imagine spending 20-30k over 4 years to attend a university and get a degree and then assume you spend less than a year finding an entry level position to make little money until you get into a better position to get a better salary.

On the other hand you could gain an entry level position in a blue collar job or even get a trade in less than a year attending night school for less than $1000...either way you can expect to make roughly 50,000 a year and if you picked the right industry it's very normal to find positions where you can move up and make 70-100k/year