well your doing the right things. By being in photoshop (formal class) and 3dmodeling your developing an eye for detail. I mean things that others take for granted.
http://www.cgmasters.net/ is another site. Take the time to go to college (community) if you dont have time then you can buy courses. Sounds like your on the right track. As for computer and hardware that is a personal issue but as for graphics cards you want nvidia. I have used radoen and nvidia big difference in manipulating textures and meshes etc. Save what money you do get for the cpu you want. Take your time and learn about the specs of cpu from amd to intel (will make a diff) your young u have plenty of time.