Guess it all depends on whether or not you get a well paying job afterwards. If you're 80k in debt and making $8 an hour in a coffee shop, I'd say it probably wasn't.
I went to college when I was 17 years old and left with a diploma I neither wanted nor used. I enrolled in University when I was 25, realized again it wasn't something I could see myself doing forever, and dropped out after one semester. Thankfully I got refunded on most of my student loans, but I was, and still am, paying for what's left (although it should all be gone by the end of this year). I ended up in a job by complete chance, one that requires no secondary education, one that pays decently, is unionized, and is the first job I've ever had in my life that I actually enjoy doing. 8 years later it's turned in to my career.