Originally Posted by RotaryQueen

I, also, was a non-trad a couple decades ago. Then, I could pay for tuition and books with a Pell grant. I talked to a friend yesterday in a local "community" college (I don't think they use that term now). One loose-leaf textbook ("to make it cheaper"), with the online access code, was $388! Most clean and functional vintage machines around here sell for $60 to $100 unless they are one of the "collector" machines (FW, Bernina, a few others). My whole collection wouldn't pay for a semester of books!