Adding onto Srihari's comment, I will say that if attending a pre-college program at an elite college will put any financial strain on you and/or your family, then it shouldn't even be something you're considering. I say this for 2 reasons. Firstly, if a program really is competitive then it will have need-blind financial aid and if it does not then you should not be considering it (if it is a financial burden). Secondly, many pre-college programs aren't really all that completive and are used simply to make more money for the university, and applying to and attending these non-completive programs adds absolutely nothing to your application. As far as I know the 2 most famous and truly competitive pre-college programs are YYGS at Yale and RSI at MIT.
On the other hand, developing software programs for a business (especially if it is something really tangible that the business can vouch for, or something you can add on GitHub) then it is very very useful and will add a lot more to your application than any pre-college program would. Moreover, there are no downsides to doing something like this and putting it on your application.