It depends in what capacity and where you want to work as a photographer. If you want to work at a large company / corporation it will probably give you more legitimacy to have a college degree. But on the other hand, if you want to work for yourself or also many companies may only want to understand your experience and your portfolio.

If you want to get into photography (or any creative field) one of the best things you can do at your age is be curious, practice, and take every opportunity you can to learn about the subject. If your school has a yearbook committee or newspaper photography, those may be opportunities for you to practice and learn more. Also, the library (your school’s or a public library) will have many books on photography you can check out and learn from.

And last I’ll say, for whatever this is worth, I personally did not major in the field I currently work in but I found college to be a valuable experience beyond the degree I earned. That being said, it can be costly so making sure you are being careful and thoughtful if you are in a position where you will need to take out loans is something to take seriously.