Education outside of prison!?

I was incarcerated at the age of 16 for a robbery. I was locked up for three and a half years (the majority of this time being spent in Indian Creek Correctional) I was paroled as part of the youthfull offenders act in September 07. Since my release I have been doing well. I got a job working in a forge shop about two weeks after my release and still currently work there. I also am in my second semester of college. The origanal deal from my family was all i had to do was go and pass and they would pay for it. Well time comes to start pay and they back out. I imagine that at the time of that offer they thought I would never go or try to do anything with my life. Well I am going and passing and they paid for the first semester. The second semester( and apperently here on out) I will be unassisted. I currently live at home and makes about eleven dollars an hour. So i suppose I could just keep doing like I am and pay for it myself. The problem is I work fourty right hours a week at a very pysical job, it is also a third shift job. It is very hard for me to concentrate on school like this. I currently am only taking two classes a semester. What I would like to do is have a part time job working 15-20 hours a week and conentrate on school. My parole officer was OK with my having a part time job while attending school. I plain on putting in for financial aid soon. I was wondering what options are out there for an ex offender trying to better his life. I looked up the statistics and only 27% of Americans recieve a college degree. If I was to attain this it would help me tremendously in turning my life around. So right now I am kind of frustrated. I am working a dead end job and have a lot of drive and potential but feel hendered by my current situations. I know I am not the first to mess up and not the first to turn there life around. So any advice to my situation would be appriciated. Information on any kind of special programs for ex offenders, or just advice in general on what I should do. I have many options and working six days a week in some crap job and just feeling like I am not living up to the potential I have is no longer an option. I have made a good job history now of being there for the amount of time I have. I am ready to move on to bigger and better things. All help is appericiated. THank you!

have you tried fastweb.com? fill it out and they will tell you what scholarships you qualify for. you would be surprised how many there are.

also consider this a pat on the back or a thumbs up for doing what you are. i wish you all the best. hang in there!