For a dependent student it's $5,500 for the first year, which is more than enough to pay for community college. And it goes up significantly each year and way u

For a dependent student it's $5,500 for the first year, which is more than enough to pay for community college. And it goes up significantly each year and way up once you are considered independent it goes up even more (lifetime max of $57k which is more than enough to pay for tuition and fees at most state schools). Also the dependent student caps don't count if your parents can't qualify for a PLUS loan. >Community college would be much cheaper yes, but if you're a working adult,you'll likely only have a handful of times you can take classes, dragging it out more than 2 years. As another poster pointed out community colleges tend to have plenty of classes available. And during the first few years when you take intro classes you'll likely have no problem finding classes at any time, and most states have online classes available for intro subjects. Additional if you go for something like and engineering or CS degree you can do coops and internships where you'd earn a good bit more than most people can make working in their early 20s (while getting course credit and relevant experience).