First post here, guess I might introduce myself before going on ^^
I'm Jerome, alias Jeir. I'm a highschool junior and an aspiring graphic designer. THIS is my situation:
(WARNING: Wall of text. BIG, wall of text.)
I'm both a US and a Mexican citizen, but for the time being I'm residing in Mexico along with my mom. My father passed away two years ago of stomach cancer, and although he left no life insurance we do still receive his pension check (he was retired). My mom receives 1300 dollars every month, where I receive 1200 dollars. We combine these two to pay off expenses, credit cards (long story short: father was too old to have a credit card, so my mom got it and he paid it. She had no source of income)and other things. Only insurance he left was paying off the school I go to, it's called the American School Foundation of Guadalajara. Although I honestly despise the preppy b****rds, it's the only place in Mexico I could go to and receive a US highschool diploma.
It's come to my attention, that my pension check is going to expire as soon as I graduate from highschool. So in accordance to this situation I came up with this plan:
-Move to California Santa Cruz (by myself, meaning I'd have an income of 1200 dollars every month, my mom should have credit card debts paid by then so no worries) and room mate with my cousin during my senior year to save money.
-Get a job and try to save as much money from the pension check for money (my mom blew all of my college savings paying off credit cards). Save all revenues I get from graphic design (hey, logos pay pretty damn good!). Also, I'm not sure if my pension check would be revoked if I were to get a job, seeing that I'd be 18 by that time.
-Obtain state residenship by the time I graduate and half off on California design universities.
-Option A: If I get enough scholarships and have enough money, apply directly to a university and go for my Bachelors degree all 4 years.
-Option B: If I don't have enough money or scholarships, go to community college for two years and obtain my Associates degree. By the time I'm through with that, I should have enough savings for my Bachelors in a good university.
The doubt that comes to my mind is if I should study in Mexico or kill myself to study in the states? The problem with studying here is that when it comes to graphic design it's a poorly appreciated skill. You can just tell by the quality of the crappy advertising here. However, it WOULD be cheaper to study here for a while, but I kind of want to go to the states and be independant of my mother (you can imagine I'm pissed enough already for having no college savings). What do you guys think? Should I stay or should I go?