Agreed with all of this, except the bit about the degree. While you ** can ** learn about filmmaking in college, it’s not the only way (it’s a skill that can be learned outside of college, if your really get creative). And if you do go to college to study film, there’s a difference between picking a cheaper, lesser known school, versus a very expensive one like USC or NYU. You lose the name and the potential to network with important people while in college, but for a lot of students, those two things aren’t worth going into debt at the start of a very difficult, risky career. And you can also network by working as a production assistant (once again, college isn’t the only way). It’s all about tactic. If you have the great script and a good reel, the degree is really just the cherry on top, but certainly not a be-all-end-all.
Like I said, go for it OP if you feel like you can proceed without regrets. But if you feel like it’s going to put you into a lot of debt, you might consider exploring other alternative routes.