Hey !
This is my first time writing a blog at CF so, pardon any mistakes.

Just wanted to raise a simple question here,
please answer considering that I want to be a software engineer/Android app developer.
Is college really important ?

I mean a normal private engineering college in India costs about Rs.5,00,000 and takes about 4 years.

With that much money and time one can easily :
- Buy 60+ books
- Buy 20+ online courses
- Pay for 5-6 Certifications like Associate Android Developer offered by Google and other tech giants
- Make 5-10 (or even more) software and Applications
- Freelancing
- Competitive Programming
and a lot more...
And still be left with money and time !
What really surprises me is that literally everyone chooses college.
What i want to know from this is , how come all this mentioned above has been outweighed by a college degree ?

As far as job security is concerned , I know enough examples of people spending a lot of money and time on college and then end up unemployed and now they don't have enough money to even start a small business.

Edit:For people saying that it will be difficult to get a job. Please consider the following points and let me know what you think by editing your comments.
- Earn a Certification offered by Tech Companies like Oracle and Google.
- Make multiple projects (in my case softwares and apps)and publish them commercially.
- Reach out people on social media.
- Participate in competitions like CodeJam, HashCode, KickStart.
- Give contribution on sites like SO and CF.
Thanks.