| I originally dropped out of college after attending for two years. I went back to college to finish my computer science degree at the age of 28, graduated at 30. I had just been laid off during a recession, and figured if I didn't go now I probably never would finish my degree. I applied for loans and used the extra I got beyond tuition to help pay my rent while I went, and for a year of it I had a part time job making just over minimum wage working as a software engineer for a department in the college faculty, which also counted as my internship, and that helped a bit as well. It was a little weird going back at first, being a decade older than almost all the other students, but I got over it pretty quick and it was all pretty normal. I went to a state school and it still took me about 10 years to pay off the student loans I had accumulated during that two. If I had tried to go the online only route while workin full-time still, I don't think I would have been able to stick with it. Also taking a break from the work grind to focus on school was pretty necessary to get back into school again, especially at first, as I was suddenly expected to remember everything from my classes I took almost a decade ago (like Calculus, I forgot almost all of that). Not sure if it would be worth it for you or not, as school tuition, at least in the US, has just been skyrocketing in costs since I graduated (even before I graduated, it was a bit of a sticker shock for me going back too...kind of wish I had just stuck with it the first time around, would have been way cheaper). Also met a guy at a hike yesterday who was in architecture for about 4 years, then sales for 10 years, and then went back to school in his late 30s to study dentistry for 4 years and is now a dentist. So another example of someone who was able to make it work somehow. I don't know his financial situation, though. |