Ask HN: Difficulties with going back to school

I'm 32, no degree, been working in software development for the last 8 years, and I want to go back to school for mechanical/electrical engineering. The problem is, I can't find a way to make it work. To really commit to it I'd have to do it in person and it would be hard to balance with a full time job and I would need to work to just pay for life. Otherwise, I could take an online only degree which would allow me to work but I know that bench time is really important. I'm not sure how it would work with a fully online degree. There's also the costs. I'm having trouble finding programs under 80k, and coming out of it I would be starting at the bottom of the ladder not making as much. I do have an option to attend at my country of birth, in Eastern Europe, for much cheaper but I don't think it's easy to transfer that outside of the EU. I just don't know how to make it work, if I can. I would at least like to have a degree of some sort, even if it's computer science (easier online) b ... Read full article.