1. I don't know where in Texas you are, but at Southwest Texas Junior College,
Quite a bit north from there. That's right outside of San Antonio which is about a 4 hour drive from me.
That's not the point, it's that that's probably a typical Texas JC cost.
I'm pretty isolated as far as major cities and cheaper schools go. The going tuition for the junior college here isn't that high, it's just that tuition + books and fees for any of the 2 year programs comes out to around 3.5-4k average not including any courses outside of the base programs. I could expect to pay anywhere from 3-5k depending on the courses I'm taking there if I go full time. My issue still doesn't come out to the cost of school, it's more so about the living expenses and my inability to find somewhere here that's cheap enough for me to stay at my current salary and still be able to afford school on top of that.
Once you've gotten to a place where you have confidence in your ability to pass courses, you can build up to full time, when you can then fund your education from financial assistance, work-study (which may even pay more than minimum wage), and you can fill the gaps with loans.
The cost of living in any of the places here that I can find that are currently available are over half my current paycheck, and with this being a much smaller town there aren't many online options to finding a roommate to stay with.
What about the old-fashioned ways - bulletin boards at supermarkets? asking coworkers? asking friends/relatives?
2. I know that you're motivated to move forward on the credentials front, and that's great, but you're not in a safe position to take on a bunch of debt even if it's at a low-ish interest rate. If you find yourself liking the schooling, then after a semester or two you can move up to taking three (or four) courses a semester which qualifies as full time usually, making you eligible for financial assistance, work-study employment, and student loans. Then if you succeed as a full time student at the junior college, you can look to four-year schools to finish up a Bachelors' degree in a total of four or five years.
Personally I'd rather do online courses than classroom taught if I'm going part time just because of the flexibility with my current schedule (me working overnights).
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You should be able to manage one in-person course. Once you pass that, you should be able to quickly progress in just a semester or two to being a full time student and you'll leave your current job behind.
Regarding online courses: In my opinion, there are basically three kinds of online programs...
- Cheap/free (e.g. Coursera) that are awesome for learning all kinds of college-level stuff, but not degree-granting and of limited use in getting higher-paying jobs
- Expensive and from good/okay schools (
https://www.collegechoice.net/rankings/best-online-bachelors-in-computer-science/), usually in conjunction with a portion of the program done in person
- Expensive and from degree mills (e.g. Univ. of Phoenix) which will leave you with a degree worth not much except where a degree of any kind will do - e.g. a teacher who is required to get a master's degree to maintain employment.
If I was to transition to a full time student at any point I would have to swap jobs due to the irregular hours I work (midnight to 8AM weekdays, and midnight to noon weekends with a rotating schedule of 4 days on 2 days off). And I don't know if swapping jobs is my best bet since I'm not currently enrolled, don't have my own place or any prospects for getting one in the near future, and no plans outside of 'wanting to get some sort of education.'
That's why you shouldn't go into an expensive program like the trade school you had mentioned. If you start with just one course, it won't rock your world (schedule-wise or budget-wise), and you can take things from there... at some point you'll have a personal level of confidence in your ability to get through a program, and that's the point you should quit your job, and go to school full time. You're leaving a minimum wage job after all, and with an associate degree or higher, you'll be in more demand and will probably command a higher salary.
My issue comes down to being able to find some place manageable to be able to afford to live while going back to school, and I'm just not sure how to remedy that in the area I live in.
Another idea - try social media e.g. Facebook - if you get your friends to share your interest in sharing an apartment you might find someone looking for a roommate. I know a bunch of folks that have found places that way. (Edit: I just noticed that Craigslist exists in your area. It's an excellent resource for shared housing.)
On another note. What about of debt would you consider to be manageable in my situation though? How much would be too much if I was going back to school full time?
Until you have high confidence that (a) you will be able to finish the degree - so that your investment in tuition etc. has a high chance of payback, and (b) that you are in a program that will pay off when it's finished, $0 debt.
So let's assume (a) and (b). Let's also assume that you are taking out as little student loan debt as possible and at the lowest possible interest rate(s). So you need to take into account how much your earnings will increase as a result of the degree, the loan amount, and the interest rate. If you are looking at it from solely a financial perspective, you should ask yourself how much your earnings will increase as a result of the degree. Apparently a rule of thumb (
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/college-finance/how-much-college-debt-is-too-much-1.aspx) is that your debt should not exceed your starting salary after graduation and to be able to pay it off in ten years.
No one has mentioned this yet, so I thought I would mention it.
SCHOLARSHIPS!
It sounds like you have no parents/no parental support or any other support. It sounds like you have had to deal with a debilitating medical condition. It sounds like you are low income and wanting to better your life. You live in the US. There are a TON of scholarships for people in your situation. You don't even have to have good grades for some of these scholarships -- some of them are NEED-based, not merit-based.
So go online, search US scholarships + whatever conditions you have had to overcome (e.g., poverty, having no parents, medical illness, living in a rural area, living in Texas, faith-based, etc.). You may be surprised what comes up.
My point is: Don't pay for your own education if someone else is willing to pay for you. Sure, you may have to apply to several small scholarships, but after a while, you'll find that the applications ask generally the same questions. And every $1000 - $2000 helps!
I had mentioned financial aid, of which scholarships are a significant element, as a source of funds for college once you're looking at attending full time. It's true that there are some which must be separately applied for, but most scholarship applications go through the college's financial aid office.