Michael,
Other posters have pretty much said what I would've said in a PM.
As for the college degree, though, I'd think that in the long run having one is better than not having one. Getting one somewhere, somehow is likely easier now when you're young, footloose and have the energy to tackle the task (going to school while working can be done but seems much more difficult and complicated). While airlines seem to have dropped the degree requirement that may be temporary. They have long demonstrated they prefer candidates have one. So when hiring inevitably slows down due to any number of economic events, if there's any hiring going on, requirements will go up again leaving the non-degree people at the back of the line. The big problem is we just don't know when that'll happen.
Getting an aviation degree just lets you combine the degree with the flying. I don't know that airlines prefer that one to others.
Conventional wisdom usually says to get a non-aviation degree in a field that might allow you to work if/when the aviation career gets interrupted or ends. While this has an element of truth to it, I'm not sure I agree with that 100% of the time.
Wish I had better advice but it's all very complicated and requires the ability to foretell the future. I'm pretty bad at that.
Good luck and let us know what you decided.