A lot of the answers are saying that it's worth it, but I only partially agree. Of course, I'm still a third year student so hold my opinion with a grain of salt.
What is worth it to me is the fact that I am currently where I'm at now, knowing the people who I know. That's a bit ambiguous, and I'm not currently happy here but I appreciate my life so far. So here's the bad:
I wasn't really sure what I wanted to be, but I'd been pressured to go to college and be an engineer my entire life. It's what I was raised around; go to college and be successful. My siblings all attempted, but couldn't do it. It was all up to me to get through college, so I just couldn't say no to it. Of course, I was decently smart and good with math. However, I attended high school in a smaller town, so I wasn't given many options to take challenging courses. This lead me to breeze through my classes without earning any real studying skills.
So college comes around and I say hey, maybe I'll be a mechanical engineer. So in my first year I struggle and make decent grades. I hit a wall but was able to overcome it with what I think is pure luck. I don't think I should've done as well as I did, seeing how bad my studying habits were. However, I made it through my first semester. My second semester was the first time I broke. Did absolutely crap on my Physics II tests and had a D halfway into the semester. It was my first time I had ever done so terribly in anything, so naturally I was really worried. Somehow I came out with a B in the end. Anyhow, at the end of my first year I had to choose a major. I was stuck between Electrical and Computer, so I flipped a coin and went with Computer Engineering.
Year two came and gone. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great. In each semester, I would always hit a low point where I would break and have a bit of a mini freak-out.
Year three, my current year, has been the worst. As I said, I continuously hit a low point each semester, and this trend continued. In the Fall, somehow I nearly failed a freshman level gen-ed course. It was very demoralizing and came at a time when I faced personal problems outside of school. Then this current semester, the Spring semester, has dropped me to an all time low. I was placed into a group to work on a project for my class. Working with them made me realize how outclassed I was and just made me feel completely hopeless and useless. I still feel like I can contribute nothing to our project, try as I might. To add to that, I am pretty much set on a path to fail my Stats class seeing as how I bombed the first two tests. Here's the thing, this could all be prevented by me studying and investing time into my classes and into getting better. But then I realized that the reason I can't is because I'm just too burnt out and de-motivated. I don't have the motivation to study and get good at this stuff. I should, I really should, but I can't. It's hard to explain, but I just do not have it in me to get better anymore. I mean when I think about it, I've been going to school for around 15 years now. At this point I'm just done with it and can't go on with it anymore. I want it to stop, but due to my failures I've still got nearly 2 more years left. And I can't just flip a switch and suddenly make me motivated to be a good student. I've tried and failed.
Now I'm seriously contemplating halting my school for a year (which will may very well end up as me never going back) just to hopefully recover. When I think about it, there are tons of people out there who don't even have jobs in their degree. Some people don't even have a degree, but they're making it fine. They're satisfied and have happiness in their life. In the grand scheme of things, is a better shot at a "good life" worth the mental trauma that I go through each semester? Each semester I edge closer and closer to ending it completely, but I hang on in hopes of finding some happiness. But I don't know how much longer I can hang on. But then there's a problem with just "stopping school". I'm paying for school through financial aid and student loans because I haven't gotten any scholarships. If I stop, those loans are going to come nipping at my feet and I'll have to find a way to pay them. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
So what then? College has been a very large pain for me. There are its obvious perks, but also its downsides. My advice? I have no good, direct advice. If you believe you can handle the stress, if you believe you have the responsibility, then go for it. It can really help you get better in life. However it's broken me down, along with many others I'm sure. It's all I ever had going for me and now it's slipping away. So I don't really know what to say, or why I said anything. It's tough. People always tell me to tough it out because it's worth it in the end. I'm sure it could be, but in this moment it's absolutely not (for me). I don't know you or if you're like me, but I guess the best thing I can say is just be careful in how you go about it. If you know it's what you want, then take it. Otherwise, be cautious.