I'm studying CET (Computer Engineering Technology) right now. If you'd like to get a good basic foundation, do what I did: get a cheap box, install DOS 6.22 and Qbasic 4.5 on it, and start programming.
DOS is a fairly simple operating system to learn and use. Yes, it's outdated, but it's quite helpful in learning the basics of operating systems. Coupled with Qbasic 4.5, it makes a great learning tool, imho. Qbasic is simple enough that you can learn it really well just by studying it on your own. I remember playing with it on my dad's old IBM when I was a kid...it was more like a game that programming. You learn a few commands and start gaining better control of the computer. By the time I got into college, learning stuff like C or HTML was pretty easy because programming was more familiar to me (haha, well, not pretty easy, but I'm sure it was easier than it would have been if I had gone in cold turkey).
This may or may not be the answer for you. I don't plan on going into programming; I've decided to head into computer graphics (art + computers...what more can I ask for in a job? lol). However, if you have some time on your hands and want to get a good foundation, I think it's a good idea.
I'm actually setting a DOS system up again...my neighbor just hooked me up with his old 75mhz Pentium computer and a 13" or 14" CRT monitor - perfect for DOS. You can pick up old computers on Ebay for practically nothing; they're great for banging around with. Plus you can install Linux when you're done learning the Qbasic/DOS stuff and start learning C and BASH and whatnot.
In the real world, you'll probably never use Qbasic, but you might use some DOS commands if you're working on Windows systems (unless you get a job somewhere that still uses DOS). But, I really enjoyed learning that stuff, and it gave me more of a personal "feel" for computers and programming because I didn't approach it as something I had to learn for school, it was something I wanted to learn.
You can buy DOS 6.22 on floppy with a manual and certificate of authenticity (lol) on ebay for less than $30 shipped. I also bought a book called DOS 6.2 Instant Reference by Robert M. Thomas. The manual that comes with the floppies is decent, which is why I bought it. You can get the Instant Reference book and the Qbasic books I'm going to mention off Amazon for sometimes only a few bucks each, used.
Beginning Programming for Dummies is decent; it covers a lot of Qbasic and some HTML and other stuff. I'm a big fan of the Dummies books, despite the name - if I want to learn about something in depth, I usually start out with a Dummies book because it explains things in English...you can get an idea of what's going on in the particular niche it covers before going in-depth with a hardcore book.
QBasic by Example (special edition) by Greg Perry and The Revolutionary Guide to Qbasic by Vladimir Dyakonov, Victor Munerman, Evgeny Yemelchenkov, and Tatyana Samoylova are both excellent books. I also highly recommend Basic Computer Games (microcomputer edition) by David H. Ahl. Basically it's the code to 101 games with brief explanations explaining how the games work...if you go through the book and program them, you'll gain really valuable experience about programming logic and you'll develop a kind of "flow" for programming. Another very very good intro book, one that's even simpler than the Dummies one, is Your First Basic Program by Rodnay Zaks.
So, here's my recommendation in a nutshell: buy an old computer with a floppy drive, install DOS 6.22 and Qbasic 4.5, get some used DOS and QBasic books off Amazon, and start messing around!
