@auhsojsa Welcome to Fluther, and thanks for posing a great question which many people can learn from. I can tell you how my youngest child did it. Firgive me if I do a bit of bragging about my him. I am enormously proud of him and his dedication and careful planning of his life.
My son had a promise that his full tuition would be paid and he could go to any school he could get accepted in. He wanted to get a degree in Film Scoring, and that meant Berklee College of Music in Boston or USC, both of which are really pricey schools. Even though he knew his tuition would be paid for, he chose to do it himself. He enrolled in a 5-year ROTC program at Northeastern University here in Boston, and commuted between Berklee and Northeastern. In 5 years he was able to get two Bachelors degrees, one in Film Scoring and the next in Viola Performance.
He started in the Massachusetts Army National Guard as a 2nd Lt. in infantry. He deployed to Afghanistan early in 2011, and shortly after getting there, his Company needed a Signal officer, which is supposed to be a position for a Captain. He had done all the needed schools and is a computer whiz adept at setting up sound and communication systems, so he took the job, soon making 1st Lt.
With the GI Bill he earned, he is now taking classes on his Masters at Harvard. He wants to transfer the classes he;s taken to MIT in the future, because he wants a Masters and PhD in Media Arts and Sciences, and Harvard doesn’t offer that degree.