I did not read this entire thread but I will share with you what happened with my children who graduated college early.
All of my children were homeschooled and so took county college classes during high school as this was a good option for them (we happen to live near a highly rated comm college). All earned about a year’s worth of college credit by the time they graduated high school. For my oldest, the plan was that he’d graduate in 3 1/2 years but he ended up graduating in 3 years. He wanted to apply for a grad assistantship position (this one was only open every other year) and so he needed to graduate in 3 years in order to apply for it. He did apply and got this position, so he was able to earn a masters degree for free. He was later hired by this university and then he went on to earn a second masters degree. Graduating undergrad a year early did not hurt him in the least. Oh, and he did spend a semester studying abroad as an undergrad.
Another daughter graduated in 2 1 /2 years - her choice to accelerate in this way. She also spent a semester abroad and was able to experience a number of internships in her field as an undergrad. She then went on to earn her MBA (and obtained a grad assistantship which helped pay for this degree) so she was done with her under grad and grad degrees in 4 years. She left school with a plum position at an accounting firm. She earned her CPA the following year.
I relate these stories to say that it can be successfully done to the advantage of the student. Neither of my children regret accelerating their time in college. For them, it worked very well. We did not set out to do this from the start, but we did consider it as one of several possible outcomes of taking college classes in high school. We then sought to see what would be best for them. Starting at university with all the extra credits gave them a number of options that they would not have had otherwise.
Moral - graduating early from college can be a good option for some students. That is saved us thousands of dollars was a lovely side benefit.