<prompt> Human: So some back story I guess: I am someone in a pretty shitty situation, I live with a horrible foster parent thats extremely abusive and downright shitty. In NY at least in LI residents in foster care age out of the system at age 21, and at that point, you either have a place to live, or you dont.Luckily for me, after some mentoring by a good guy I met here on Reddit I studied my butt off and secured a job making 19.25hr as an IT Field Tech working in the ManhattanNYC area, I start in January and should receive my first paycheck later that month.Before I age out of the system my plan was to take care of a few debts I owe due too some fuckups I made in the past admittedly during bouts of depression and suicide contemplation. I owe about 2.7k in credit card debt and thats about it.My car insurance is 270 a month and my phone bill is 135 each month, I typically spend 20 on gas a week and thats all of my main expenses.Do I try to eliminate all of my debt before March to build credit to be able to get a decent apartment? In queens I am thinking since itll bring my commute down and potentially save me moneyI just desperately dont want to be homeless, I already saw what happened when my foster brother aged out of the house I currently live in, my foster parent threw his clothes out, destroyed his computer he built himself in the process, and he was basically homeless for a year before someone took him in. I dont have any family, no friends I can depend on to let me crash at their plash, so naturally I feel a little trapped.Thanks for reading, and sorry for the formatting and throwaway account!Assistant: Do foster kids in NY get free college tuition at SUNY? Human: It depends on the foster care agency they go through, we can get FAFSA and TAP like anyone else, or the foster care agency can eat the cost depending on who the child isif they decide the kid will do really well.  <response>: Go to SUNY or CUNY and talk to the financial aid and the TRiO office. They can hook you up. TRiO is a federal program for low-income andor first generation college students. They have offices at almost all public institutions. The staff is experienced in finding resources to help students succeed.Source: I used to at one. 