In this country - you can make it with hard work and doing what you have to do in order to succeed.
Some are just not college material and apprenticeships, etc suit them better.
This can not be said enough!
I know a guy who installs and repairs satellite television equipment - essentially, the cable guy. He goes to corporate locations, rich peoples houses and, allegedly, The White House.
He recently received a $50 per hour RAISE!.....to convince him to stay with the company. He had been fired by my company about 6 months before, for getting angry with his idiot boss. He's one of those brilliant people who can do anything he sets his hand to, and was wasted in property controll, anyway.
It's true some people make it without degrees. But you must take into consideration the fact that corporate America will not even interview applicants unless they have degrees in something or other.
Even a Black Studies degree will get you a higher paying job than you can get on your own.
Remember that the people who make it without degrees are the special people who have something most of us don't have. The average person without a degree is destined to start lower on the economic ladder and stay there unless he gets a break.