Making a friendship consquential decision.

I befriended a group of people in college who are a year below me. I graduated and have a good paying job. However my priorities have changed from being party animals in Uni to working in a professional setting, time has flown so fast!

Another factor but minor one is the unlikely scenario they start befriending this guy who was a jerk to me and repeated the final year and he starts spreading rumours about me to my friends. I know its unlikely but I dont wanna constantly worry for the next 12 weeks about my friends and their perception of me because its factors out of my control. Hence thats why I'm ready to let them go

For the last 10 days I've been thinking if I should let them go. The last year while has been moments of euphoria, started my first job, met new people at work, made new friends, confidence has increased,got engaged recently. But its gonna hurt to let them go because they helped me when I needed friendship the most. But my priorities have changed and its gonna hurt a lot. I dont even know how I'll approach this situation cuz I've always been on the recieving end of stuff