If I were you I would seriously consider staying in high school and just sucking it up, you only have a year left and you want to bail already? You could drop out and get your GED, but if you want to get an AA or AS degree, with working full time you won't have time for school and if you did you would maybe have time for 1 class a semester, which would take forever to get a degree. Trust me, the best route is to just stay in high school, get a part time job, save some cash up and move out when you get to college. Do you have any family members that you could live with? The $300 that you're gonna spend on rent (which doesn't seem possible) and plus all the fees from your GED and school, and even the 40 min. commute, how will you pay for gas? Minimum wage will not cover this at all, you should see if you can at least live with a family member to save some money.