Just remember "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life son". These are some of the most profound words of wisdom ever to be spoken to a college student.
DuPep...There are many, many stories just like your wife's out there. But, there are a whole lot more people who went to college and actually use their degrees. I know not having a degree has made things much tougher for me to earn a lot of money. Not impossible, but more difficult to be sure. My brother is a CPA who works on the assembly line at Hoover, making vacuum cleaners. No guarantees either way, but college does give you a leg up for sure.