white iris,

This is one of the few areas in which I consider myself almost an expert I just earned my MA in English at the age of 54 after starting back to college few years ago.

I have some suggestions. Look into taking CLEP exams.http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/clep/exams.html
You can earn college credit by exam for a small portion of what it would cost to take the usual 3-hour credit class. Make sure that the college you are interested in will take CLEP credits. I earned 9 hours by exam, which was a huge help.

Make an appointment with the admissions offices for the colleges in which you think you might want to attend. Ask them about any kind of financial aid. Unfortunately, because of the economy, grants are difficult to come by, but they (and their financial aid office) should have suggestions. You may want to sign up on fastweb.com. They can help you find information about potential scholarships, but you have to put up with a lot of advertising and useless information to sort it out. I suspect that you will be eligible for student loans. Please don't let the media news scare you away with their distorted perspective, by the way.

Colleges have had to become more aware of non-traditional students, since they are making up a bigger part of the student population. You may be older than your professors and most of your classmates, but that's just part of the fun

Let me know if I can help! Like I said, been there, done that