This question comes up often when people are changing avenues in life and, it usually provokes the answer: “it depends”.
It depends on what kind of a student you are.
If you are the type that needs someone to guide you in person, and to help you understand the material, then you are probably better off taking a web design course.
If, however, you are the type of student who learns easily from a book, then just learn this stuff on your own.
I went to a Computer Programming course in college. It offered one lonely class in HTML. I got hooked. I wanted more but the college didn’t offer career choices; everything I know now, I basically learned on my own, reading through the endless blogs of well-known people in the web business like Jeffrey Zeldman, Dan Cederholm, and Roger Johanssen.
The bottom line is that some people just can’t learn from scratch by reading books or online tutorials. They need someone in front of them, interacting with them; and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
What about from an employment point of view? Will a prospective employer, be it an agency or direct if you’re a freelancer, look for a degree or other qualification, or does a good portfolio mean more?
A good portfolio can do wonders in the Web Design business. Depending on the agency, I’m pretty sure more would look at your experience (portfolio) than your education. Let’s face it, most of what you learn in school are bad habits (FrontPage and tables for layout), so I believe that most Web Design companies will be more willing to hire someone who’s coding is up to standards and has a creative mind, than one who’s education has led him/her down the wrong paths. I hope this helps!
Yes, it depends, but the base of knowledge that you can learn getting a degree can let you boost your skills learning by yourself. I remember tons of stuff that I learned by myself but I actually appreciated my years at University and how hard it was. However, I think it would depend also about the field you are…
If you go to school, you can still learn on your own outside of class. What the classroom teaches will give you a basis to explore further on your own. If you have the money then go for the education or else go out on your own I say.