Ravi-ji: I know a community college in East Texas, which is about 2 hours from Dallas and 1 hour from Shreveport, LA: KilgoreCollege. There could be cheaper colleges than this one, but I think Kilgore College is fairly inexpensive than many colleges and a good school to start with. Also, since, it is located in a small place, things (like rent) are little cheaper than that of big cities. Work-- there is no public transportation, so a car is a must; if you have it, there should be no problem finding one.