I see most of the responses to this question are positive. I've never seen the inside of a public (or private) school, let alone college or university. My parents believed in home-schooling, and that's how they brought me up. I started being passionate about web development at a late age (21 years old - when people are halfway through uni already), and it's been a year since. I'm driven by passion alone, and I love what I learn.
The responses to this question are pretty interesting and super encouraging :)