You don't think it's possible to be passionate about CS and have a CS degree? That seems counter intuitive. My own anecdotal evidence disagrees with yours: the best and most passionate programmers I know are the ones who cared enough to get a real, formal education.

I really can't imagine a scenario where getting a formal education would make you a worse programmer. Having a degree does not necessarily mean you are a great programmer, but your self taught friends would still most likely be able to benefit from experienced and knowledgeable professors.