This may come off as a little odd, but bear with me. I will soon be one of those "20-something-fresh-outta-school-coders" in two years, assuming everything goes well. I am willing to bet you have several things that most of my generation is lacking: respect for your employer, a good work ethic, excellent communication skills, and most importantly - the ability to think independently. Seriously, I can't get over how many of my fellow students are essentially programmed robots. They can't think on their own, instead they would rather their boss told them everything to do and how to do it.
Also, I'm willing to bet you haven't been babied and spoiled like most of my generation has and therefore you won't whine about everything and demand the same benefits from day one as someone who has been with the company for 30+ years. Most of the young employees care nothing for their business while the older employees understand that if the company goes under they're out of a job.
So considering all of that I would say definitely get that degree. Also, from what I've heard from all of the employers I know (I own my own IT / Do-Everything-And-Anything-Electronic business, so I talk with a lot of other business owners), the only reason they want to hire younger employees is because we are generally cheaper. Otherwise, most of us are worthless compared to the older generation, not to say that we won't smarten up some once we're out in the real world. (Key word being "most".)
