The only cost to an education or learning about subjects, ideas and people these days is the cost in TIME, NUTRITION AND EFFORT

Sure you can spend tens of thousands of dollars and go to university, college or whatever institution for a whole bunch of years and learn a bunch of stuff. Or you can just take the time to read a bunch of books, study them, learn from them on your own time.

I never had the opportunity to attend post secondary school ... I read, I write on my own and do things on my own. I'm not the smartest person but I've surprised my more educated friends and family in my ability to know a lot about many things. I've also traveled the world to many countries and in each country I visited, I took the time to read about it's history, read books from there and learn as much as I could about it all. I also enjoy learning about the latest technologies, so I've learned to tear apart computers, put them back together, install, uninstall, reinstall an OS and just generally play around with computer systems often. I have friends who are teachers and nurses with qualification in many things and lots of education, yet they come to me to fix their computers and they're surprised when I can talk to them about most subjects about history, politics, travel, countries, science, technology and many other things.

I hate to say it because it sounds stupid ... but having an education these days often doesn't amount to much. Unless you have a well defined goal as to what you want to do and you have a lot money, resources and support, you get to become a well rounded, educated, knowledgeable and capable individual. Otherwise, the majority of post secondary educated people I've seen are just people collected certifications and diplomas to add to a collection and don't really gain much of an education in anything valuable.

Read, read books, read all kinds of things and read often ... it's probably the biggest thing they get people to do in higher education. There is so much content out there that is freely available. Read, watch and listen to lectures that are freely available in all sorts of sites and made by actual highly educated and knowledgeable professors and professionals. Find those free resources that are vetted, recommended by people you trust.

The other part of the equation I honestly believe is nutrition. Eat properly and eat enough of the right things. My mom literally raised us on oatmeal every morning. I grew up with kids who ate sugar pops or nothing at all and the majority of them didn't end up with a good life path. Then we seldom had processed foods as mom and dad were hunters and trappers that fed us a steady diet of wild meat and especially fresh fish. We're Indigenous so a lot of our diet was from the land ... we were poor and didn't get to eat much but the food we ate was highly natural and nutritious. Eat enough good natural food, enough protein and fats, exercise, walk and train if you are young and capable and all that nutrition and blood pumping will get you to learn more, faster and retain things longer. The younger you do all this, the better it is because the older you become, the harder it is to do anything.