One thing about all these billionaires is that their parents helped start them up, the Horatio Alger myth of rags to riches is not possible today without some money behind you first then you start. You don't go from nowhere to somewhere that easily.
Another thing is that they had their lucky breaks too, without that you're nothing. One more thing, are you really going to be a billionaire? If you don't know now then that means that you have no plan and no focus which means you're dreaming. These billionaires got rich from working on something very early on. And as for what your friend says, how do you know that's true unless you look for the answer yourself? Billionaires don't rely on second hand information, you look for yourself.
One thing I do know is that if you have a degree from college you have something to fall back on, if not you got nothing....
Read the biographies of all the top ten listed billionaires then make a judgment call yourself, have you got what it takes??? Remember these ones who started with nothing had no help from their parents, can you cope with that??