> I'm pretty sure you can't put yourself through a US college course these days with only a summer job, Howard. The basic idea is good though. Taylor, in addition to this and famous's very good advice, you might want to consider taking a year or two gap between high school and college, and working full time while you save enough to start your tuition. God knows it's not easy to find work these days, either, but it is one option. If your parents will permit you to live at home, either for free or for minimal rent, while you work for a year or two and save your money, it could be a solution which everyone will be happy with.
>
> Starting college a few years older than everybody else will almost certainly have other advantages in terms of your maturity and self-discipline, especially if you've already been out in the "real world" with a job before then, so it shouldn't be seen as something which will hinder either your college study, or your future employment prospects.

I was referring to a summer job as a starting point. It might cause parents to think, "Hey, this kid is serious about college!" Then they are likely to loosen the purse strings a bit.

I worked in the summer before starting college, and then worked a part time job 12 months out of the year to stay in school. I never took summers off from school or job. College is certainly more expensive now, but I still think it is possible to work your way through. I've known a lot of people who took off a couple of years to build up some savings, but most of them worked part time while in school. I agree that a person who is 20 is more likely to be mature enough to handle the grind, than someone who is 18. I was twenty when I started college, but that was because it took me so darned long to finish high school!

My sister worked a year before she started, then after two years she took off another year, then went back. Between the second and third year she was a "permit" teacher, meaning she did not have a degree, but was willing to work for peanuts. That was allowed in those days because there was a teacher shortage. Degree teachers made just a few more peanuts, but low pay is what caused the shortage in the first place. Hmmm. I rambled off the subject a bid, didn't I.
Howard