I worked all through college and still had to take loans. It made my remaining balance at the end less but it did take me 6 years to get a BS degree because I wanted to be able to pay for some things on my own. Not sure I could say whether I would have preferred one way over the other. It did take me a long time to get through school; but when I graduated I already had 4 years experience over my peers from working in the field already.