Do you have to go to college to be a writer?

This is a question that I get a lot. The person who askes is almost always someone who hasn't gone to college or at least hasn't graduated. It boggles my mind how people think that just because someone writes for a living that they are somehow better or more intelligent than anyone else. Maybe this is true for the literary, literature type folk, but for me it's just another job-albiet it is one that I truly love and would probably do up until the day I die.
I went to school for written communication with a major influence in fictional writing. I didn't graduate. I had had enough of the technical writing courses and all the rest that were anything but classes on how to write better fiction.
The way I figured it, was that college was trying to give me a well rounded education in all areas of writing. That's fine if I wanted that, but I didn't. I wanted to learn how to write the best fiction that I could. So instead of wasting thousands of dollars are went my own way and started reading books on how to write better fiction. You know what? I learned more by reading books pertaining to what interested me and then writing fiction, than I ever did in three years of college.
So, for those who think you have to go to college to be a writer, I would have to say no without a doubt. It wouldn't hurt, but then again...
If you want to be good at writing, you need to write a lot. Before anything else you need to write and learn the craft. Second to that is reading a lot. You need to immerse yourself in the world of reading and read voraciously.
I hope this helps. Let me know if you would like more specific answer by leaving comments.