So recently I've taken another trip inside my terribly clustered mind and gathered a couple of thoughts about what I want to do in life.
My main goal: to maintain happiness. And the way I want to achieve this happiness is to have a career that wont be something I won't want to do. Although this might seem a bit obvious I see a lot of people growing up and doing things such as becoming business men and construction workers and basically NPC's. (Hah, gaming humor) I want to have a career in animation and hopefully make money on the side by producing music and DJ-ing. The thing is, I don't know if I necessarily need to go to college in order to get into animation as a full time type thing.

So I ask the more experienced members: Should I get myself into an animation college? Or would it be a waste of money? Also, how might I start my animation career?

I'm pretty sure that most animation studio or whatnot aren't looking for animators with a degree or something.
If you got skills, you're in. You can go for an ART course to make illustrating better since it's the basics for animating.
You can take a course that will save your ass in the future if you lost the job or something too.

If you intend to do animation as a career, study it at university. Qualifications are necessary if you want clients. And jobs.

Quote from Hewitt

How dare you become prejudiced against happy businessmen and construction workers.

Youre right those were terrible examples ;o;
Im sorry

Im gonna go sell myself in a wooden box now

I think the main problem for the people of this community does not lie in their animation skills, but rather their ability to produce something of decent length. Go to collage and learn how plan ahead and make something long. Storyboards, animatics and the like are a rare sight in this community and it's something that no professional animator would go without when they produce something of decent length.
So yeah, go to collage, learn how to produce lengthy animations and techniques that will help you in the process of creating them. Plus, a collage degree can have a big impact on your resume, it will show that you are dedicated to animation and probably won't just loose interest in it after a couple of weeks of working for the firm.

I'd recommend you study it in college. You see, it's either you study it and become a professional animator in the most official way there is, or you continue to practice animation while you study something different in college that can act as a safety net in case animation doesn't work for you. As the other guys said before me, a degree is quite a safe way to start your career and especially to maintain it. The way I see it these are the two alternatives for creative type jobs in the work market nowadays.

I suppose your choice depends on your skill level when you're about to start college as well, in the sense that if you're not that skilled you might not feel confident enough to commit to animation. Maybe there's something else you're more likely to build a career on and just keep animation as a hobby and hope it turns into something after a while. However, I don't see most arts and animation entry requirements as being too demanding and 3-4 years is enough time to do some serious learning and improve yourself before the beginning of your career.

And it's interesting cause, for example, the University of Birmingham offers 3000£ music scholarships for all students, except for those in the music department, who are practicing an instrument. It's great that they care about hobbies. You never know, even if you don't study animation in college maybe you find a scholarship like that. Maybe you could even major in something safe and minor in animation.

Anyway, in conclusion, to be able to make a good living out of something, you don't only have to like it, you have to put up with the tough parts as well. So if you're serious about a career in animation, get a degree and work hard! :)

EDIT: Oh, and before you decide, I strongly recommend you take a good look at the content of an animation course (you can find it on the universities' websites). I'm quite sure they teach classic methods of animation as well and other things you might not do at home for fun. That way you'll make an informed decision.

http://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/2D-Digital-Animation-BA.cfm
http://www.herts.ac.uk/courses/3D-Digital-Animation-BA.cfm

I don't know if this helps you get a rough idea of what is needed to get in to the courses. As for me I am going to take computer science in university and still practice animation on the side. I suggest you do that but if you don't want to you can check out the links above.

If you think animation is what you wanna do for your life, then go ahead.. I know animation colleges can be very costly though but they do provide you many things. They give you a good working environment and teach you all the essentials, they give you a lot of connections to the industry and they give you a diploma thingy. Ultimately your skills and talents are the most important in the end, but animation college is a sure way to get you all the tools you need to do that.

I wouldn't know though.. I never went to animation college, I just went straight into working

Quote from Hewitt

How dare you become prejudiced against happy businessmen and construction workers.

Isnt that like a job immigrants get to maintain some steady money flow? Particularly Mexicans?
XD

I could be wrong, in fact, I probably am.

and anyways, basically I agree with Rebellion.

I made a thread about this awhile back and it was ignored... Oh well, I learned from reading these replies

Quote from Gunnii

I think the main problem for the people of this community does not lie in their animation skills, but rather their ability to produce something of decent length.

Yeah, except you don't need college to learn how to do that. It's a matter of focus, determination and creativity. College will help you apply those things, it won't magically make them appear.