Self-Taught vs Computer Science Degree - is there something wrong with trying both?

Everywhere I go, there seems to be this division in the programming community. You either teach yourself and skip formal education, or you go to college for 4 years to get the standard degree.

But isn't this a false dichotomy? Can't you do both?

I've been teaching myself Javascript and some other things, but I keep losing my progress because of taking too many breaks. So I've started a computer science degree track, at community college first (cheap).

My question is, is there any reasoning that says teaching myself AND going for the degree at the same time is a bad idea?