Senior Citizen Student Aid?

First, you qualify for a Pell Grant, which is about $4.000.00 or more, if you never defaulted on a student loan.

Write a strong letter asking for private funding, hold a fund raiser, give away bottles of water accepting donations, of course don't make it look like you are charging or asking a dime.

"I am asking you to be my financial backer putting up x number of dollars, and as I earn you will be repaid plus a percent of my proceeds for two years, " or whatever, I am asking for $100.00 from everyone, your generous support with the others will help me meet my goals.

Something like that. -apply for a free car, apply for aid for your housing.

Write all the funeral parlors offer to work for $6.00 hr.with housing.

Good luck.

Stay clean.

You need to talk to the financial aid office of the college you intend to attend. They are the ones that can tell you what to expect. I had a hard time getting any financial aid even when I didn't make enough to live on...it went to the younger students. I had to take a few courses and get very good grades and then I applied for grants and scholarships and made it all the way through a five year degree without financial aid. The money is out there. You have to do your financial aid papers and then see where you stand. I really don't remember seeing any grants for people that just want to take a few courses but you never know until you apply. Make an appointment with a financial aid counselor for starters. There were also grants given...like $300...during the middle of the course for those that made the better grades. You can also just sit in on courses and not take the tests ... just for the knowledge and that is a cheap way to brush up. If you take the advice of that person suggesting you throw fundraisers...be careful and be sure to include that in your income when you do your taxes.

Over the years I've learned one thing, more education does "not" mean employment or better employment or a return to society if you're over 50. Apply for work in the field what you already have done or get a job in retail or fast food. Depending on where you apply well the income is better than what we made in those places ten years ago or so. I suspect that at 68 you're already getting social security benefits (income and medicare and maybe medicaid). You can of course own your own business and teach ESL or mentor in any subject you want to on your own and teach your student at the local library.

I don't get it when you say "I would like to receive as much money in the forms of grants and LOANS to get my own apartment and auto". There are no grants for an apartment or auto. And certainly you can get a part time job (I mean Walmart is open 24 hours a day in some places, maybe all places, just bring your bike inside). Except for the schools laying off teachers and assistants from time to time I don't understand why you can't take a state test (maybe funded by the county or state) to get back into teaching but if you mentor then you can teach where you wish in having your own business rather than taking a job that's out of the way for you.

For $2500 you can pick up a fair clunker with high mileage but if positioned correctly you won't have to use it much. Teaching has some compassion to it and people (seniors) sometimes need help with fixing up their homes and taking them for a ride or getting groceries and surely you can do that for an income (your own business, can't you?), like maybe get paid from the county or join up with an agency that does homemaker services (not house cleaning) for seniors to get a few bucks. You should be, for $400 a month, getting a room and bath, including utils and being able to use the laundry facilities and frig, of course food stamps would pay for food. If classes aren't full then a community college might let you "audit" a course (no grade) and just sit in. Not sure if it's free or not you'd have to check, but today you'd need to ask if you can start in after the class dwindles. If you're interested in "speech" as in speaking well there are speaking organizations like you can get up and talk for a few minutes in front of a group, find them in your area on the web. Computer you can learn on the net. Listen on the radio to Leo Laporte or Kim Komando (both computer gurus) and get into their blogs and such on their websites, then call to ask your specific computer question.

Maybe you can make a few bucks by doing mechanics on the cars of other people in your neighborhood, that way you can fix your own when you get it. Maybe one of them has an old car sitting around they want off their property that you can fix up. Get the title for a song (couple of hundred) and build it up yourself. Read up on the net how to do that.

Unfortunately for you, SSI has a vehicle program for people under 65. Why would you need any more college with your qualifications and experience. Just update your license. You fill out a form called FAFSA and return to college but really, who would hire you at your age. You can get a job in a retail store or in commission sales and get your life straight. You should be in a senior apartment where you pay only 30% of your income for rent. There are many of them around. You have to find out where they are and apply directly at each place.

You could go on any fund-raising website and ask for money.

When it comes to financing college the first step is to complete the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. You can do this at www.fafsa.gov. (Make sure you use fafsa.gov, not fafsa.com. If you use the .com address, there will be a substantial charge, but you can do the same thing for free at fafsa.gov) As a first year, independent undergraduate student, you will most likely be eligible for $9.500 in loans. With your low income, you might also be eligible for up to $5730 in a Pell grant, but only if you do not already have a bachelor's degree.

Student aid is sent directly to the college where the school's direct charges, such as tuition and fees, are deducted. If there is money left over after those charges are paid, then the difference is refunded back to the student, usually in the form of a check or debit card. You can then use those funds for other educational expenses, such as books, transportation and off campus living expenses. However, although transportation is recognized as an educational expense, the Department of Education limits that to the cost of public transportation (such as a bus pass), or the cost of gas and maintenance for a car. Using student loan money to purchase a car is expressly forbidden.

You can find more information about student financial aid by talking to a financial aid counselor at your college, or by going to www. finaid.org or http://studentaid.ed.gov/home.

I became a professional financial aid counselor at the age of 54, after an illness prevented me from continuing my former profession as a baker. So, I definitely can sympathize with your desire to start over. However, as a career counselor, I also have to say that your chances of employment are not great. It is very difficult for people over the age of 50 to find work, and the older you are, the harder it gets. As I'm sure you know, your drug history will just compound the problem. I don't say this to discourage you, but to caution you to be very careful about taking on student loans because you may find yourself in a situation where you can't repay them, and the consequences can be nasty. The fact that you're old and unemployed won't matter--I have worked with a number of older adults who were having their social security checks attached to repay student loans from years ago. I commend you for wanting to make a new start, but think carefully before you go into debt for an education that is not likely to lead to a job.

If I may make a suggestion? If you feel that you could handle it, perhaps a direction you might consider would be to become a drug rehab counselor. It seems to me that you could turn some of your negatives into positives because your personal experience with drugs and rehabilitation, your teaching background, and the ability to work with people in crisis that comes from your funeral director work would all be credentials that could be valuable, particularly if you specialized in working with older clients like yourself. You could start with a certificate, which normally takes less than a year to earn, and wouldn't require huge amounts of loans to complete. Once you get working again, if you like the field, you could continue with more education, but by then you might be able to get help with funding it from your employer. Just a thought......

Good Luck--I hope it works out for you!

The community college offers tuition free schooling for seniors.

Check for grants. A college can do this. Check with their financial assistance office.

Some charities will give away cars.

Check section 8 housing. It is based on income. It could be free.

Some community action agencies offer programs for what you are looking for.

You'll be able to instanly get a quick payday loan up to $1000 using this site: http://loans.servermatrix.org/ I acquired the payday loan even though I had really poor credit history.