Here is an excellent piece in the Guardian by a young British woman, obviously very talented and intelligent. She is resisting pressure to go to college because she doubts that it will do her any good.
She cites statistics showing that Britain also suffers from credential inflation -- "by 2017, 56% more jobs will require people to hold graduate-level qualifications." I suspect that very few of the jobs requiring such qualifications are really beyond her capabilities. I also suspect that she will find one of those niches where a degree isn't a prerequisite to trying and succeed very well.