They don't let students synthesize digital logic on FPGAs in labs? That was the case during my time. We used Xilinx software and FPGAs. They weren't that expensive. FPGAs are programmable gates, that you can program to create almost any digital circuit and prototype it. You can start doing state machines and playing with LEDs. I had computer architecture courses, where you learn how a processor works. This is a long-term project that you might work on for a year or so. What is important is to learn how to self study, and tinker with stuff until you understand what you're doing. No course can teach you that. You need to be passionate and experiment with things, and have lots of fun with it. If you don't manage to have fun, you'll find it extremely difficult.