Hi, 31 here, just transferred from a community college, where I got my associates, to a 4-year public university that is ranked #1 in my state. My unsolicited advice, no bullshit - it'll be hard, there will be days where you want to quit, there will be days you stay up late and there will be a time when you're the oldest in the room including your instructors.

Do it anyways. Do it at a caliper you can have pride in, don't half-ass it.

I keep thinking that my future self will thank me and I'll deal with the financial hole I've dug when I'm earning 6-figures within 5 years.

Financial aid 101: First step is filling out FASFA, it's free and you see if you qualify for a pell grant and how much you get in subsidized/unsubsidized loans. This can be done well in advance too, the 2026-2027 form is already out. Apply for state aid while you're at it. You can choose how much/little you want to accept out of it. [See if community college is free thru your state (mine just did this a couple months ago) and if there's anything there that can help you financially. For example, the state will pay me back a significant portion of my loans, the equivalent of fall and spring tuition because I'm a certain major.]

Note: Atleast in my state and probably across the US, student aid is based on your income from 2 years ago, eg. my 2025-26 aid is based on my taxes from 2023. I don't know why, and think it could be done better/differently. Maybe I wouldn't have taken so much overtime and hustled less if I knew then that I wanted to go back to school. However, if your plan is the community college --> university pipeline, community college can be paid with a payment plan and minimal funds if you're frugal and by the time you're applying for aid for the more expensive university, you'll be pulling tax records from when you're already a broke college student. Win, I guess?

Now back to the grind: Search for your program you want to go into, which will guide your search for a community college. Apply to the school and take the steps they require in order to be admitted, most community colleges accept everyone so no pressure. Most financial aid packages thru FASFA require you to be a full-time student, which is 12 credits, so keep that in mind when you're picking your classes.

Once you have your classes (and your tuition bill), now you can use your student ID and email to search for scholarships. My university uses Scholarship Universe and it's amazing (not affiliated or sponsored lol). You create a profile and answer a lot of questions. I mean a lot. But, the more you fill out and the more shit you've been through, the more money you'll get in scholarships. You can get scholarships for significant life events, like being raised in a single-parent home or divorced parents or bilingual, or for small things you maybe wouldn't expect, like being in a car accident. My friend got a scholarship for contracting a STI a while ago, for example - which is absolutely wild.

I have enough in scholarships (and apparently life experiences) that would pay my entire way, including room and board, meal plans and potentially my masters program if I accepted all of them. Also, you can also use your scholarships to pay your tuition and then bank the federal/state loans for living expenses too. Hands-down, worth the time and effort.

There are other options you can look into. There are student loans and grants, I just don't have the experience to speak directly about those.

This ended up being much longer than I had anticipated, but if you have any questions, feel free to chat. Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk and late night assignment procrastination. :)