runway31 t1_ium7zsh wrote on November 1, 2022 at 12:27 PM

there are lots of scholarships, google and apply as much as you can
im going to be honest, working to afford housing and food while taking classes is going to be extremely difficult. You can cut down housing costs by applying to be an RA (resident advisor) on campus
PA (Pennsylvania) is very safe in many places, state college is a college town and has good lighting, police support, and for the most part good community values. I dont want to victim blame, but if you are cognizant of risks they are easy to mitigate. Harrisburg campus is good too, but Main Campus is more fun and will probably enable to to have more connections in your career.
life is expensive, yes, but less so than other places. I can pm you a rough estimate of cost breakdown if you want.
if cost is no issue, University of Washington, University of Michigan, Virginia Tech are some other great options. Some of that depends what you want to study as well.