: My parents claim they cannot pay for my college education; what are my options? I have divorced parents, one makes a lot more money than the other, but that one (who makes more money) claims due to court rulings he pays a

First, the thing between your parents is not your problem. You are not entitled to that money, and trying to gain access to it will only anger them.

There's a huge scam around college financing

It's difficult to see as a young American because you're only seeing it in one country and one age. But the situation with expensive college is not normal.

You know how, if everyone has a lot of money to buy a thing, prices go up? It's like when mortgage interest rates fell to 6% from 14%, people could afford bigger mortgages, so they were able to bid prices higher.

There's a tiny law that says "student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy": It's a debt you cannot ever escape. Government student loans have sensible rules that balance that. Private student loans do not, but they weren't competitive until interest rates went very low about 20 years ago. Now, private loans have gone crazy. Cheap schools have popped up simply to get young people signed up on student loans (aka diploma mills). Online/distance learning has only made this worse.

A debt someone can't escape except by dying? It's a no-brainer for investors, and a sucker bet for students. But they are bombed with propaganda saying how very important college is (not wrong), and financial literacy is not taught in high school -- so when it comes to complex financial matters like this, young people are lost and get victimized by this crazy system - and especially by these cheapie "diploma mill" schools.

So you have very good reason to be concerned and asking questions.

However...

It's not that way in other countries

Of course, that seems very intimidating. Most young Americans have never left the country, but that's just a habit. It's a GREAT option, it's just a lot more complex and so you have a bit of a "senior project" working out the details.

"Surely it's as expensive there" - no, the "low interest/student loan/greed" runaway train never happened there, because the government has different policies. Often college is free, which lets the air out of the student loan business ;)

"I'll never get a residence visa" - no, you get a student visa. As you'd guess, it's for that. And it provides what you need, including often right to work to fund your college/living expenses.

"They hate immigrants" - European and developed East Asian countries love Americans, though.

"What about housing" - it's situational, you have to check with the country.

"Free? REALLY?" Keep in mind in many countries it's free to their own citizens, so they keep costs down. It's good public policy because it helps their economy more than it costs. Making it free to Americans is good public policy too; guest students tend to get an affinity for the country, so they want to do business there or help companies do business there. The value that adds to their economy pays for your college. Get it?

Not that way in the military

The US Military has a variety of programs to get you into college at no cost. Of course they will want something in exchange for it.

Military experience is often, itself, as good as education on a resume. As an example, there's a pilot shortage - the military can provide the training and many flight hours you need to qualify for decent paying slots on commercial airlines.

Not that way at community college, which is often close to free

And many states and municipalities make community college almost free. You can use this to get all the basic courses you'll need for a longer degree. For instance you'll need Calculus I for a Data Science bachelor's - but Rockhill Community College can teach it just fine, so no need to burn rent and student loans getting it at MIT.

Further, if there are deficiencies in your high school grades, and you excel in community college, that will greatly help your application to the Big University.

Applies not so much to Trade School

With all the hype about college, people overlook the skilled trades. You actually get to build stuff like buildings or the electrical and plumbing in them. And you get better paid work, sooner, than you often get with a college degree.

Trade crafts are not just grease and sweat. They are highly technical these days, in their own way.

Another amusing fact is that some countries grant work visas to people with needed trade skills. Once there, you can get -guess what - free college ;)
Or rather, mechanics to fix the hydraulics on the ditch diggers.

It doesn't apply if you skip college

It is possible to make it without a college degree. It can work with you applying to jobs; especially now as employers are very hungry. However it is more reliable when you make your own business. Your business doesn't care about your degree (it cares about your skills which degrees help) - businesses mostly care about your level of commitment.

Avoid red herrings

The thing about your parents and their money concerns me. It's not your money and you have absolutely no rights to any of it. You must be careful not to allow things like that to become a distraction to the goal. Focusing on irrelevance like that is one way people self-defeat... that is your brain looking for a way to not confront a problem before you. Problem: financing college; avoidance strategy: focus on money you'll never get and pretend that's a barrier to progress, making lack of progress not your fault. See how that works?

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The other answers are great but I will add my own experience.

I started college right before my parents got divorced. My dad was making a decent amount of money. Too much to qualify for Pell grants but not enough to really help pay for my education, so I took out loans.

When my parents got divorced, I had my mom claim me as a dependent despite her making about a third what my dad did. I suddenly qualified for Pell grants. I also took out loans to pay for my living expenses so I didn't have to work or work very little. Eventually I started claiming myself as an independent which still awarded me the full Pell grants. My parents' divorce was probably one of the best things to happen to me as I got out of the food industry and could pay for my education almost entirely on grants.

My advice, have the poorer parent claim you or claim yourself to get Pell grants. Go to a cheap enough college (of good quality) so that the grants and scholarships cover tuition. And work to pay for everything else, if you can balance work and school. I couldn't and taking out loans was brutal, but I graduated. If you take out loans, try to find a charity/non-profit to work for to get the loan forgiveness.

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Go International.

There are many countries who offer free or cheap tuition at all levels. Some countries only subsidize education for their citizens, but others do it for international students as well.

For example, there are hundreds of universities in Germany that have free or very low-fee tuition programs available for international students.

France also charges very little to international students (~K/yr after conversion).

In Norway It's completely free. And from the same source "It is very common for degrees to be offered in Norwegian and English at institutions in Norway. A large majority of the population also speak good English."

These are just a few examples, and you won't have to compromise the quality of your education. The above countries have great education systems.

You'll have to pay travel fees, but that may very well be cheaper than tuition in some US institutions.

Plus, sometimes a change of scenery can be refreshing.

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Some folks have touched on this, but I wanted to make sure I emphasize this. Getting a college degree does not require going into massive debt. In fact it doesn't require debt at all. Here are some options (this is US-focused):

Get your core classes out of the way at a community college. Community colleges are a significantly cheaper way to earn college credit in nearly every state in the U.S.
Don't go to a private university. As Machavity correctly points out, in-state schools are usually the fraction of the cost of a private university. Once you land your first job and get even a little experience, nobody will care a lick about where you went to school (and even for the first job, a surprising number of employers are not that impressed by what school you went to as much as what you learned and what your GPA was).
Work a part-time job while going to school. Multiple studies have shown that students who work while going to school actually make better grades.
Make applying for scholarships and grants your new second job. A 00 scholarship is not much, but if you get ten of those, you've just paid for a year of school!
Don't go to school full-time. You can always go slower if you need to. Going half-time will still get you a federal tax credit in the U.S.

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I recommend looking for other outlets for financial support. It seems that your parents may be fickle about what money they want to give to you for college even up to the last minute so I would recommend trying your best to not rely on their money at all. As others have mentioned, scholarships and grants are nice options to look into but depending on your academic abilities and location in the country, they may be quite difficult to get. Even if you do get some scholarships or grants, it's rare that they cover the entire cost of your education unless you were granted a full-ride scholarship. You seem to be scared off from loans because of a fear of "massive debt". You do not need to necessarily incur massive debt when getting a loan for school. A good way to avoid this massive debt is to choose your school wisely. Since you are clearly on a reduced budget for schools, I would recommend first looking at public universities where you qualify for in-state tuition. The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition is typically tens of thousands of dollars and I know way too many people who incurred that extra cost simply because they wanted to "get away from home". Avoid this at all costs. 9 times out of 10, there is an in-state school that offers the same or very similar degree to what you are looking for. The university you decide upon matters very little when compared to the effort you put into whatever university that is. Jobs will care about what skills you have first and then they'll worry about where your degree is fun (if they even care at all, most don't).

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