I agree with you 100% golfer. Especially in "Step 1". Make getting your degree your top priority. It is going to be the most valuable rating you could have in aviation. Everyone will tell you how its such a great fall back, and you will learn new skills which is absolutely true, but theres one thing they always leave out. It's just a really fun part of your life that you can only truely experience in your late teens/early twenties. If you want to do this for a career, than remember you have your whole life to fly airplanes. However the window for you to live in a dorm, drink a lot of beer and try and get laid every night really starts to close after about 24...at least for most people hehe.
just go to college, have a blast and do some flying on the side. You could easily get your CFI by your junior, if not senior year, and depending on how much you instruct, potentially be able to go straight into an entry level job. Who knows what will happen in four years, but like golfer said, there is a shortage, and if you look at the cost of fuel, airplane rentals and insurance, I just cant see this field being stimulated anytime soon. You are going to see a mass exodus before a mass entrance if you ask me.