As for me:

I'm attending the College of William and Mary in Virginia (small public school, primarily liberal arts) and double majoring in CS and Business (ironically, I came to the College as a prospective English major -- I only switched less than two years ago, and haven't looked back.)

I had the opportunity this summer to intern for Big Tech and it was literally the best three months of my life, so I'm confident that programming is the way to go for me. At the same time, I feel as though I've had a tremendous advantage by being 'the computer guy' in most of my b-school classes, and I definitely don't share the stereotypical disdain of managers/business folk.

In terms of debt, I'm going to be graduating with only barely four-figures, thankfully in part to a) Pell Grants (state-granted need scholarships), b) merit scholarships, and c) working 20 hrs/week since freshman year. Another commenter mentioned that it's pointless to work during college because it barely puts a dent in tuition, but I've found:

- Working minimum wage at the rec center might not give you that much money, but I was able -- as a 16-year-old college freshman -- to make at least $20/hr (much more at this point) through tutoring and basic (talking Wordpress and CSS here) web design. $20/hr * 20 hrs/wk * ~15 weeks/semester = $6000/semester. - Despite the amount of 'get an internship! get a nice resume!' advice thrown at college kids, very few of them actually follow through. I've interviewed with more industries than most other undergrads, and found that universally having two-three solid experiences (ie. not lifeguarding) is a huge differentiator.