<prompt> Human: My boyfriend just turns 28. He previously went to college after high school but did not do very well. He had no preparation for college prior to this. For context, he is Caucasian, male, and his father has an associate degree from a local community college, so hes not a first time college student either. His parents almost made so much money for him to qualify for financial aid. He ended up taking out 45,000 in private student loan with a 14 interest rate. After his freshman year in college, he was doing so poorly and was having so bad mental health issue that he was released from college. That was 8 years ago. Since then he has been working for a company that pays him 19 an hour with benefits. However, he is living on his own and expenses stack up quickly. He is still paying the student loan he took 8 years ago but barely makes a dent in it. A quick break down of his month bills: - he brings home 600 a week after taxes single person taxes is a lot - his housing and utilities come to 700 a month- food is about 500 a month - car payment 400 a month - student loan payment 400 a month - miscellaneous 100-300 a month All and all he can only saves about 100 a month. Granted he has been living frugally to be able to have a decent emergency saving. He wants to go back to college because he feels like he is a much more mature individual now who knows what he wants to do, unlike who he was right out of high school. However he is not qualified for financial aid because his GPA is under 2.0 and he is over the time limit of 6 years since his first time attending college. He is also not qualified to start fresh as a freshman. We have been trying to brainstorm a way for him to be able to afford going back to school. I would really appreciate any idea and any suggestion anyone has. Thank you. Tldr: boyfriend went to college 8 years ago and was released due to poor grades and depression. He wants to go back to college to finish his degree but is not qualified for financial aid. His student loan debt is weighting his finance situation down, preventing him from trying to go back to college. What should he do?  <response>: 500 dollars a month on food is insane. Cut that down to about 200 dollars a month, sell the car to get a car without a payment and that frees up roughly 700 a month. apply for financial aid, his parents salary wont matter now because he can apply for it as an independent student. He needs to go to community college so financial aid will pay for a majority, if not all of it. Hack away at some online classes, pay off those student loans with the money saved, and work towards getting a pay raise once he gets enough credits for a 2 year degree. Theres no easy fix. It will take a while and it will suck. But its worth it in the end! 