Lots of people will hire you without a degree. Most of my team members in the last few years that I recruited had not completed their bachelors.

A lot of people here are giving you average advice. If you want to be an average programmer, you can listen to their advice. I don't recommend trying to be an avg programmer.

If you don't do the degree thing, all you need to do is build your rep / brand online, which is nowadays quite easy to do, for those willing to put a little bit of time into it.

Oh, and if you're actually paying for univ and also 20 yrs or older, that should make the decision easier. It's not the great value it once (maybe) was.

Hope this helps,