Well from my perspective as a 37 year old who has gone back to school to get his bachelor ' s first unless your parents are paying for it , fuck what they want . If you are worried about the cost of school , there are a few things that really will help . Stay with your parents as long as you can . It sounds shitty , I know , but you will save so much money . Second don ' t buy your books through the school bookstore . You can rent many books through Amazon very easily . Also call your instructors or email them as soon as you sign up for class , cause even if your class lists a book as required you ' ll find that some instructors won ' t actually use the book . So contact them and find out if you could skip getting the book for their class . Every semester , I have a class or two that is just like this . I was kicked out of high school and it has taken me 18 years before I had the chance to go back to school . Waiting isn ' t a big deal , and I ' ve got 4 . 0 in school . The only downside is getting caught up in putting school off too long . Good luck .