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You certainly don't need advanced schooling to learn how to do something online. I think it's safe to say that most webmasters started making sites before schools were even teaching this sort of thing. It wasn't until about 2001 that schools started taking web development seriously.
But here in the US we place a huge emphasis on college. If you don't have that piece of paper, then you are viewed as an unqualified dumbass. There is a small web design firm near me who took out an ad for someone who knew HTML and very basic webmastering skills, and they required an associates degree!
Schools generally teach you how to work for someone. Not how to work for yourself. What I mean by that is they may turn you into an HTML, CSS, PHP, etc... expert, but they don't teach you how to build sites that actually sell. They assume you'll have a boss in the real world that will be telling you how the sites should look, and then you implement his ideas.
For instance they'll teach you how to install a message board script, but not how to populate that board with people.
They'll teach you how to design a really nice looking banner in Photoshop, but not one that actually gets a lot of clicks.
They teach you the technical aspect of everything, but not how to apply it to actually make money.... because when you are working for someone else, that's not your task.
However, even if you want to work for yourself you still need to know how to do things. IMHO, as long as you learn them that is all that matters. If you need to go to college to learn how to code a script, fine. If you can buy a book from Barns & Noble and teach yourself, fine. Either way, you now have the ability to code a script. Next comes how to actually apply that script to help make more money, and again, they won't teach that in college.
Then again a degree is something to fall back on that most webmasters do not have. Unforseen events could cause shit to hit the fan for advertising affiliates and online entrepreneurs. That is also something to consider.
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