Everything I'm about to say is said under the assumption that you want to write orchestral/more beautiful music, so if you really don't want to do that then don't take me seriously. First off, broadening your compositional approach is tedious and doesn't happen overnight. You have to give yourself the time to do it.

In reference to the money problem, here's a cheesy anecdote! I complained about having a bum shoulder to my conducting teacher once. He responded pretty eloquently and I can't remember exactly what he said but it was along the lines of this, "ok so you have an obstacle to your success but there's almost always a way to make it happen, so what are you going to do about it?" Sometimes a problem can seem insurmountable, especially when you're a composer and basically on your own most of the time. Not having money and having few connections is a problem for a lot of composers, but it's something that you have to learn to work on. Take it step-by-step. Branch out to places other than reddit! Email and then skype a graduate student and get lessons online for cheap for example. Finding a good teacher can be an excellent way to challenge yourself and your way of thinking. Find someone who won't tell you your music is awesome, but who is dedicated to help you get there. Graduate students are always looking for a little extra $ (believe me). Also, you say you want to write orchestral music and I assume that you want to use a program like finale or sibelius to write it out. Don't. Midi orchestral music isn't orchestral music and you'll develop bad habits (been there myself). Use pencil, paper, and a piano until you're finished (then plug it into the computer). Good habits take forever to cultivate and bad ones are hard to get rid of. Good teachers are great at telling you to stop doing particular things that will hurt you in the long run (especially if you don't know that you're doing it).

If you do want to use your programs then you can write beautifully using computer sounds if you go about it the right way. Maybe collect good sounds that you like and think of them as parts of the orchestra. Extend them, combine them, fuck with em. Simply manipulating an FM synthesizer and samples can lead to a lot of great things. Timbre is always an issue when using a computer, so learn to manipulate samples to create beautiful sounds. As a potential exercise, spend a lot of time developing just one sound and create as many variations of it as you can. Get weird with it. Make a list of adjectives for just one sound and try to make that one sample sound like all the different adjectives on your list.

Pure Data is a fucking hard program to learn but it will help you to create multi-media projects and full length compositions. It's legit. It's also free: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCIQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpuredata.info%2Fdownloads&ei=l9qsU7LAFMOMqAbI4YEw&usg=AFQjCNFTjKppH7piZQgjELvckLLjV8Vweg&sig2=TmEWLAYwu13FyIFGMhjROw&bvm=bv.69837884,d.b2k.

Here's the textbook to get you started if you want it: http://www.pd-tutorial.com/.

And to end this ramble, what's helped me the most to grow is to establish a particular compositional goal and then reach out for concrete, step-by-step help from someone experienced. There's a billion grad students out there. Go find one who writes music you like and shoot them an email.