18 Years Old and offered a job at $40 an hour out of high school

Hello Reddit, so this is a throw away account for obvious reasons, but I am looking for some advice and help on how I should move forward with my life.

To give you a little background on myself, I just graduated high school this May and I have been planning on attending college at a good university in the fall. I consider myself to be a well rounded full-stack developer. I know various programming languages and have skills with multiple product suites (Example: Adobe, Microsoft). I taught myself everything I know from watching videos on the internet, to taking classes online, and even just experimenting. I also started a business to make myself some cash on the side where I create web sites, do design and branding, and maintain servers for clients. I even recently had a chance to compete in the national competition for Microsoft Specialists in Florida.

What I need advice on though is recently I started summer job searching around my home state and applied for a few different positions at companies and was surprised that a few of the companies wanted me to come on full time. My best offer I received was for $40 an hour at a growing technology company. At this company I wouldn't be labeled as an official employee, but instead as a private contractor for tax reasons for the company, since it's new and growing. I understand that I would have to manage all of my taxes and keep track of things like miles driving, etc. The employer mentioned if I did great work they would hire me as an official employee in the future.

Main main question though is do I take the job and avoid all of the debt that going for a college degree would give me? At the university I was planning on going to over four years I would be over $160,000 dollars in debt. I understand that in the technology field things are constantly changing and if I'm being given these opportunities today I don't want to get left behind while trying to pursue a four year education.

If you want to know anymore Information on my situation just ask!

EDIT: Thank you everyone for all of the responses and kind words! Lots of people are saying to speak with them about my terms of being a contractor, I have set up a meeting Monday to discuss the terms of my contract as well as how long they expect my employment to be and so I can ask questions. Is there anything else I should consider asking?

EDIT: People are also asking about health insurance. I am covered under my parents currently and my home is close enough for me to live at home and drive to work or attend school.