Only you can decide that. Calculate the total cost of a degree: tuition, books, room, boat, a bit extra. Then look at the projected earnings and determine if that cost is worth the payoff. If you think you'll be happier, it might be acceptable if you lose money in the deal.

Then compare that to your first choice without a degree.

If you can get a degree/knowledge someone will pay you for, sure..

However, there's many angles of attack. Skillshare, and various other online skills training, various online certificate programs, etc. For IRL learning, which is needed for some trades, community colleges are ok, just make sure you get the most bang for your buck, and aren't being sold on some kind of BS for profit scam college where you'll never be able to transfer credits to some other school.

Also be very very wary of some trades where they have in house training, that is non-transferable, yet they may try to claim you owe them X number of years to pay off all their special training. The answer to this is, "Oh fuck no!" Oddly enough, the military is probably THE WORST offender of all when it comes to skills learned vs what can transfer to the real world.

Another issue is what "type" of so called "job". If you're being "hired" on a 1099 contract, made to provide your own tools, and leave them in a facility controlled by the organization you work/contract for, you're on call after hours, as well as being told what time of the day you are to be there by, you have to train new people... Then you're not a 1099 contractor, you're an employee being scammed sixs way from sunday. And when they go bankrupt, probably after the company officers run off to Mexico with the remains of the any liquid assets, you'll be the ones trying to get the Sheriff to gain access to get your tools, and having to deal with angry customers and creditors trying to find out who where the fuck their money ran off to. You'll also likely find out the official payroll information submitted to the government is complete and utter BS as well.

The advantage of a "job" that's by the books, which provides you with enough cash as a visible means of support is, that 8-5(or whatever), 4-5 days a week, you've got your paycheck that's skimmed off by the govt, paid into health insurance, unemployment, and reporting a certain earning level to the scammy as fuck credit rating system. You've got say an associates in some random BS, accounting, programming, electrical tech, HVAC tech, health care, construction, whatever.

And then the rest of your time, you can spend on consulting work that's cash and carry. Electrical Engineering, programming, R&D, etc, etc. You can take payment in some form of currency you can store offshore, launder through a shell company that appears to be contracting you to do piece work, all sorts of wild and crazy shit. Day job, you make $50-70k a year, off the books work, you can probably make another $20-30k that you can conspicuously consume on something that is not state registered assets(cars, guns, property, housing). Assets you're saving/storing out and sight and out of mind of the usual financial channels, go crazy.

Once your break about $400-600k gross cash flow per year, PROBABLY time to start some kind of legit storefront, and get an accountant who's very skilled in "startup businesses" which might be short haul, and rapid burn rate. Once assets are depreciated down to nothing, that's when the fun and games starts. :D

Bits and pieces of the above, they sure as shit don't teach you that in school. And all this can be the difference between sink or swim in the first 10 years of your on the books profession, as well as your off the books professions.