I was having an argument with a friend who claims that given roughly equal skill, someone with a college degree from a name school is going to start at a significantly better job (e.g. a higher-end company) for his first job; and because of this, he's also going to be significantly ahead for his second job.

Here are my two questions:

• given equal skill, how much does college factor into a programmer's overall career?
• if someone has the technical skills to work competently as as programmer, is it worth it for him to go to college first?
• if the degree is significant, is it significant whether the degree is from an average college or a higher-tier college (e.g. Stanford, MIT)?