It is certainly noble to want to be independent and if you paid attention to the reading of your ketubah you know that you, and not in-laws, are obligated to support your family.
Are you talking about college, or work? If the former, YU and Touro offer yeshiva-like environments, with great rabbis and college courses in the afternoon. Not everyone there is a left-winger like me! There may not be a need to give up intensive Torah learning.
I would talk to your rabbis, and if you are serious about college to visit the campuses and talk to the rabbis and students at YU and Touro. See what is right FOR YOU. If you really have a yetzer hara to go off the derech at the first week of a college philosophy or literature class, you probably should NOT attend college. But at age 25 you should have the maturity to be able to sort out the wheat from the chaff and understand that Ayn Rand and Henry Miller are inconsistent with Torah. Develop your own hashkafah and do not let others discredit it — even rabbis; many gedolim attended university and they offer a sound derech.
I wish you the best.