How do you fund your education if you have no (more) GI Bill benefits?

2LT (Join to see) - ~~ You Are NOT Wrong...
And Upon Receiving Their Degree, We Have Just One More
"College Idiot" Walking The Streets.
I Reread My Previous Post, But Forgot to Mention,
My Public Schooling Ended Mid-9th Grade.....
Which Means"I Had An 8th Grade Education When I Enlisted",
BUT Upon Enlisting On My 17th Birthday And Later Discovering
U.S.A.F.I. And The Fantastic Programs I Would Take;
I Now Have A Damned Good Education.. ... I'd Estimate A Masters+,
In Business Administration; Along With Several Unrelated Courses.
~~~~FAR Better Than Public Schooling Could EVER Have Done.~~~
~~~~~~~~~~ THANK YOU, UNCLE SAM ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After taking a few years of college, I had always had full time jobs that always were in the horticulture/agriculture/etc industries. Towards the end of my career I always had supervisors, co-workers, repeat clientele, managers, asking me advice how to complete certain tasks, pathology on plants, plant ID, entomology ID, how to treat for diseases/bacteria/viruses/etc, the list goes on and on...this is where everyone was "College Educated" but did not know how to practically & logically apply their college education. One supervisor graduated from University of FL, a head grower/supervisor Graduated from Clemson U, and various other "prestigious institutions". They knew absolutely nothing to the point of being dangerous; vs. my 30+ years of hands on training/experience/field knowledge. Makes you wonder where all that money, college loans, and schooling they invested into theirselves; still knowing absolutely nothing.

I Have 2 Close Friend In Lansing, MI... BOTH College Grads Of M.S.U.
I'll Just Use Their 1st Names, And They're Married To Each Other ~~ Jim & Jean.~
JIM Graduated With A Primary Degree In Forestry, And A 2nd In Horticulture, With The Intent Of Employment As A Forest Ranger.
JEAN Graduated With A Degree In History....Then Took A Few More Classes To Receive Her Teachers Certification, To Become A Teacher~~~ Neither Could Fined Immediate Employment, So Jim Took A Temporary Job At MSU As A Custodian, While Jean Was Hired By A Child Care Facility Where She Taught Preschoolers Basic Colors, Numbers, Etc...
Here's The Upshot: JIM Retired From M.S.U. As A "Head Custodian"...
While JEAN Retired From Wal-Mart, While Never Having Reached The Level Of Department Manager. .... THOUSANDS Of Dollars And YEARS Of Class Room Attendance ~ Shot In The Azz For Employment Anyone Could Have Done, Fresh Off The Streets ..
We ALL NEED An Education, But Finding A Quality Education, Usable As A Career, Can Be Rather Daunting And Expensive As All "L". And Why Our Public Education S U C K S Big Time ~~ Consider THIS: "Upon Our Completion Of The 6th GRADE, 7 Years Of Schooling,
Which Subjects Were We Taught Which Added ANY Benefit, Or Even Qualified Us To Being Employed In ANY Occupation What-So-Ever, Without The Need Of Further Education And Training"? ~~ EXACTLY~ Scary Huh?

2LT (Join to see)
This had taken me a little time to write up..I apologize ahead of time for the lengthy response.
I realized that also within the medical field and other related sciences..you are basically dangerous and need supervision for at least 4-8 years. The focus of most schools is learning biology, structure of whatever you are studying, names of all the parts of the plant/body/structures/ all "The Basics" and then when they get to pathology (yes that includes plants as well as the basics of engineering)...all the diseases, infections, IDing, basic principles of analysis/theories/applications, as well as all the advanced math connected with these science fields. Your brain is so flooded with with memorizing and tests..that you deflate like a balloon after graduation.
There is the matter of how to approach each issue, a tried and true method, as well as "Practicality" of how to apply your knowledge. It's basically knowing how to analyze and eliminate the most severe circumstances (which the colleges/universities show examples of at the beginning stages and at the most advanced stages) and diagnosing the minor symptoms before advancing to the more severe stages of whatever the situation/disease/problem will be..
Basically you work a "Flow Chart" in your head, the "Yes or No" answers isolate and trim down the correct diagnosis/problem.
That is where the problem comes in...exercising practicality/logic and applications of what you have learned in college. The students are so overwhelmed with knowledge they do not know where to start. It's like trying to find a needle in a haystack..."The Haystack" is the barrage of info their brain is flooded with...
I had taught one of my trainees that first you look for the most simplest observation first...like something that appears to be mold. I get them to look closer..

"Is it really mold? Look closer"

"No it actually looks like spiderwebbing" that was after the magnifying glasses came out.

I looked closer and noticed the top of the plant dying...also the xylem and phloem (delivery system of nutrients and water to the rest of the plant) showed signs of being clogged up. A disease/mold called "Botrytis cinerea" has similar symtoms that this plant displayed. I dug my finger around the base of the stem, because the mold looked more like Webbing from an insect, past the webbing and there was a hole gnawed into the stem of the plant. I took my knife out and cut the "very expensive" plant back..a caterpillar came out of the stem. This was an "unknown species" within America..the crop we were raising came from the Netherlands. I spent 4 hours of research on my down time trying to find out what this thing was.
It turned out to be an evasive species
 The European Pepper Moth, Duponchelia fovealis Zeller. We were supposed to report it to UGA and AG; but my wonderful supervisor did not want the Greenhouses shut down for months on end for an evasive species. That was around 2011/2012. He sent out the poinsettias to the retail stores without reporting or documenting this event. He went to a company meeting with all the heads and claimed my research for his own. I ran into the operations manager a couple of days later claiming that my supervisor was the one that discovered it and claimed credit for the research. The words that came out of my mouth "Liar! Ask him where did he get the research from, what websites?"

A new invasive insect pest in Georgia, the European pepper moth, Duponchelia fovealis - Impact Statement - Research | College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences