Thinking seriously about education

I'm 28, so now is the time to either start on an education or just say the hell with it. If I do it now I'll more than likely be able to retire at a decent age and also be able to spend quality time doing things I always wanted to do. If I don't get an education now when I have the chance I'll just be working till the day I die and I'll never even be able to dream about retirement.

I have to quickly decide what courses I want to study and I have to decide what type of classes I want to take, whether it be a vo-tech, junior college, online course, or night classes. I only have a GED so top colleges like LSU and such are not an option even If I did have that kind of money to be able to afford it. For some reason I don't know if I trust online universities. Does anyone on OA out there take or have taken online courses? Or do any of you know anyone who has that might be able to either point me in a good direction or fill me in on the likeliness of being successful with online schooling?

I've heard good things about online schooling but I'm afraid it might be a waste of money. I've never known people to actually take online classes and land a successful job so it's almost like a myth to me. My work schedule gives me time for night classes but I really don't know if that is a good idea. That wouldn't give me time to take care of business at home being I'm single and have to take care of myself. If I take day classes then I'd have to drop from full-time to part-time and that would make it nearly impossible to pay my bills. Though my parents always have said they would help pay for me to attend college, they never do say how much money they have set aside to do that which means they don't have the money at all. So I couldn't dare depend on their word. Their word is like the wind basically, it just blows across my face and that's about it.

I'm young with enough options to do this, but more importantly I'm more motivated now than I have ever been in my entire life because I don't have any distractions. That, and I don't feel like I have anything else to live for other than wisdom and hopefully a solid education.

I'm leaning on the possibility of taking basic classes at a junior college near by and then after completing those courses, then start classes at a university in the studies of Kinesiology aka human kinetics.

You're 28 years old. You're not young anymore. Just kill yourself, okay buddy?

You really should have had this epiphany a few months ago when I posted these on /g/ and /prog/:
    http://www.cs101-class.org/
    http://jan2012.ml-class.org/
    http://www.saas-class.org/
    http://www.hci-class.org/
    http://www.nlp-class.org/
    http://www.game-theory-class.org/
    http://www.pgm-class.org/
    -
    http://www.launchpad-class.org/
    http://www.venture-class.org/
Not sure if any are still active. All computer/business-related, all free. Some trial thing Stanford was doing to try and make `proper' university-level courses available online.

Go to a trade school or community college and major in something useful.

Don't go to a liberal arts school or major in something useless. I don't know much about kinesiology, but if you're picking it because you've researched it and found that there are good job opportunities for it, then great. But if you're choosing that field because just because you find it interesting, then try something else.

It's best to pick something you enjoy, but don't be like those idiots who like drawing and then major in art. Remember, useful and fun is ideal, but useful is better than fun.

Never take any online stuff. Most of those programs are scams and the courses aren't accredited, and in-person classes are much better anyway since you can talk with the professors and make study groups with your peers and all that good stuff.

Your plan of taking gen eds at a community college and then transferring to a 4-year university is pretty good. Just be sure to check about credit transferability... you don't want to take classes which won't end up counting for anything at the school you hope to transfer to. I'm currently doing a transfer program, and not every class credit can be transferred.

Also, be sure to look into stipends, scholarships, and financial aid. You'd be surprised at how much money is available to students.

Good luck!