In my opinion and experience hiring, you can't just weigh education against experience. You must really consider each individual candidate on their own merits.
That being said, I would seriously hesitate to hire anyone without a college degree. And it doesn't what your degree is in - just have an education. Know how to think and write and handle yourself. You'll find plenty of discussions about degrees in theatre or stage management in the Student Forum here on the site. In fact, I'll give you my hard-line response again here, which is that if possible, you (generic "you") should go to college. And you should not major in theatre. Personally, I am a huge fan of liberal arts educations.
And my two cents... don't worry about the debt. Yes, being in debt is not great. But this is your education, not a new wardrobe. It will pay for itself over and over in your life. In fact, go for it all and keep busy with SM gigs while in college. You'll get the education and experience at the same time.
You should look in the Student forum to chat with other student SMs who are trying to make the university vs. real-world decision.
But from a hiring perspective, I almost always want a college graduate to be working on my show.