G'Day Jake, and welcome to CF
You have received a lot of advice already, but in the true CF tradition, I'm gonna pile on some more!
First, do you envision a future where you earn your living doing something directly involving sailing? If so, consider that there are only a few such professions available. One is involving yourself in the super yacht crew/maintenance/managing orbit, like Pelagic mentioned above. To do that, some formal education is helpful, and a maritime college leading eventually to a masters
license would be a good choice. The skippers of those boats are well paid, have what some consider to be a luxurious (if hard working) life style, often involving travel to desirable locations. The number of jobs is limited, and candidates plentiful, so not a sure thing at all! Usually need to work up through the system, starting low in the pecking order, even with good creds.
Another possibility is in pro
racing. Formal
training less important here, but a thorough grounding in
racing is basic need. College level competition could be a start here, but no sure track. There seem to be an increasing number of racing teams with at least a few paid pros involved, so this isn't out of the question, but again, a kinda hard road to travel at first.
There are some paid positions in the tall ship circuit. Those require
training in some esoteric skills unique to square rigged ships, and I think the only way to get them is by working as an entry level grunt or a volunteer at first. We just were involved in the Australian Wooden boat festival here in Hobart and there were six tall ships present, and they all had some paid crew, I believe.
Finally, there are careers in sail training... teaching at sailing schools or clubs. Less importance of formal training and in general less skill level required, but the pay isn't red hot and the
employment is often seasonal... and ya gotta like teaching to have a good time.
Other posters have outlined plans for working in support roles for sailing, building, maintaining or outfitting yachts. There trade school type training is useful and those routes have been discussed. The universality of needs for electricians,
refrigeration techs, electronic installers/system designers and so on are well established, and
employment is reasonably assured if you are any good at the jobs... and they can fit in well with a cruising lifestyle.
My personal feeling is that university level education is a good foundation for the rest of your life. Your
current love for the sailing scene may wane in time, and having a sound background would help you transition into some other lifestyle. I do agree that avoiding a huge tuition debt load is essential to being able to chose how you spend the first decade or so post Uni years... avoiding debt of all sorts gives you a big leg up towards independence to live how and where you chose, so consider a cash only economy for the next few years. You will be miles ahead of your peers if you do so.
End old fart rant!
Good luck with your choices, and good sailing.
Jim