My sainted mother, who just died last week, did that very thing. I was born when she was 29, a high school dropout, and she started as a freshman the next month. She pursuaded the local college to let her take a GED (back when it was a "veterans" bennifit, not meant for others). She finished her 4 year degree in 2 1/2 years, mainly because the college charged by the semester, not the class, so she took as many classes as possible, did correspondence work, and sometimes got permission to take more classes than allowed. By the time I was 12, she finished her PhD.
She was the most "successful" person I've ever met that pulled herself up by the bootstraps from abject poverty. And she succeded because she didn't start college until 29.
I agree totally. 3 or more years of working in the real world straight out of high school has a way of changing a young persons priorities. The most valuable school is the "School of Hard Knocks". It makes you grow up real fast.