Martian

So here's the deal. I'm 22, I'm a high school drop-out and I've bounced around a few jobs. I barely make enough to scrape by every month right now and it's been that way for the past 4 years or so, since I moved out on my own.

Moving back to my mum's place isn't an option, but I'm starting to think I want to go back to school. I finished most of high school and I think I'd ace an equivalency test, so I want to go right to college and get a degree. The thing that makes this possible is that my grandfather left me a signifigant amount of money when he passed away. Enough to survive for two years if I take a weekend job to supplement it and use student loans to pay tuition and other school-related fees. The downside to that is that I won't have my inheritance to fall back on in an emergency and I'll end up with several thousand dollar of loans to pay off. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it to do that or if I should just do part time education (which is another big mess, because I can barely afford groceries every month, let alone tuition and school supplies).

My mother, my girlfriend, my sister, everyone I've talked to think I should go for it. It makes me a bit nervous because I'm living on a finite, though large amount of money and I won't have a lot of time to go down to visit my girlfriend. I'll also probably have to quit smoking, which is no tragedy although it's earlier than I'd planned to and, well, it's a huge, major life decision, which is going to make me nervous pretty much by default.

Hell with it. For the record, I have about $21 000 of my inheritance left over, having used $8000 or so to buy my Monte Carlo and a warranty on the drivetrain, plus $1000 during a tough month when I was sick and out of work and needed money to get by.

Part of what makes me nervous is my practical field of study will be either computers and I know a couple of guys with degrees in those fields who are working the same job I am. If I end up back at the same place when it's all said and done, it hardly seems worth the $30 000 -$40 000.

I obviously won't base my decision solely on replies here, but this is a smart bunch with a lot of experience and I could use as many intelligent, informed decisions as I can get on this one.

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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame