Allis is chief executive officer of Broadwick, a Durham software firm he co-founded in 2003, when he was 18 years old. Broadwick has 34 employees and is on track to rack up $2.7 million in annual sales, double what it generated last year.

"I think a college degree can be helpful [for] an entrepreneur, but there is a lot of learning that can only happen in a real-world environment," Allis said. "You can learn the theory of marketing and accounting and managing in business school, but you don't learn the practical application until you actually do it."

Allis has many corporate role models who have proven that degree-less doesn't mean clueless. Microsoft's Bill Gates dropped out of college. So did Michael Dell.

Last week, R.H. Donnelley of Cary confirmed that it erred several years ago when it issued news releases stating that CEO David Swanson earned a bachelor's degree from St. Cloud State University in Minnesota. Swanson attended the school but didn't graduate.

He has declined to comment publicly, except for a prepared statement that said he accepted "full responsibility" for the "regrettable situation."

Since Swanson became chief executive in May 2002, Donnelley has expanded through acquisitions to become the nation's No. 3 yellow pages publisher. Swanson "started on the front line" as a salesman and worked his way up to the top spot, company spokesman Tyler Gronbach said. "You talk about developing an appreciation of ... the needs of the customer."

Just as most basketball players need to hone their skills in college before turning pro, so do most CEOs, said venture capitalist Steve Nelson of the Wakefield Group in Chapel Hill. But there are notable exceptions who go straight from high school to the NBA. Think Kobe Bryant. Or LeBron James.

Nelson was chairman of Pinpoint Networks, a Triangle software company, in 2001. That's when the company fired CEO Tony Blake, after discovering that he had lied about his business background and contacts.

Blake was replaced by Jud Bowman, who had bailed out on a Stanford University scholarship to focus his energy on Pinpoint, which he co-founded while he was in high school. Nelson said Bowman was hired as CEO because he was the best person for the job.

"You want energetic, enthusiastic, passionate people who want to change the world," he said. "I don't think they teach that in college."

Still, the statistical evidence is unambiguous: A college degree is an important credential for a successful business career. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show a direct correlation between degrees and earning power. Likewise, the more education you have, the less likely you are to be unemployed.

Even CEOs who have succeeded without a college degree recognize that that route won't work for most people.

Ryan Wuerch, the 39-year-old CEO of Durham-based Motricity, dropped out of college after a year because he was frustrated that the curriculum was "book-related," rather then stressing real-world applications.

Motricity has prospered under Wuerch's leadership. The company -- whose technology helps people buy and receive games, graphics, ring tones and music on their mobile phones -- has raised $152 million from investors to date, likely the most venture capital ever raised by a North Carolina company. The company has about 400 employees worldwide -- including about 300 in Durham, up from 170 last summer.

Wuerch, the father of three sons, wants his boys to go to college. "I actually tell my sons to do as I say, not as I do," Wuerch said. "I want them to have the discipline."

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