[autoxer]

Well, if your credit is shaky then you should start by improving that. Go to the creditboards forums and learn how to improve your credit rating. But don't expect a quick fix, it takes lots of time & work, but it is worth it, because it will save you tons of money with lower interest rates.

If you want advice about cutting costs, it is all over this forum. You may need to live off of a fraction of your income.

I don't know what your specific situation is, but if you already cut all your costs down to the bare minimum and can't go two years w/o defaulting on your debts, then you might want to consider going to school part time, so you can work more, or delaying school till you are in better financial shape. Those two short years can become two long years if you have collection agencies hassling you.

Investing in yourself and improving your earning power is great, but if it puts you in a lot more debt, then it won't be that easy to pay it off in a smaller window of time. Is that a realistic goal? It takes a lot of sacrifice to get out of debt.