Making a lifelong dream come true!

For as long as I can remember I have always wanted to be an archaeologist and history professor as well as wanting to move to Norway since first reading the Prose Edda at the age of 11. Unfortunately those dreams got put on hold when I had my first child at the age of 19 and my second at 21. My children are now 15 and 17 and about to go off to university and begin their own lives and so it is time for me to revisit my dreams. This is going to consist of 3 steps each of wish I need help funding as I do not qualify for student loans/grants and cannot afford to quit my job to be elligible.

As the first step in this process I have been accepted to the University of Leicester to begin work on my BA in Ancient History and Classical Archaeology and am scheduled to begin classes on June 4th 2012 via distance education. In total the 3 year course will cost £10,350 with £1150 installments due every January, May and September 1st. Along with this one module requires me to go to England in year 2 for field school at Borrough Hill as well as a second trip over in year 3 for lab work. There is also an option to make a third trip for the graduation ceremony if funding allows. Each of these trips will cost roughly $2500 - $3000.

The second step in this plan is to complete a Master's degree in Nordic Viking and Medievil Studies at the University of Oslo in Norway. At this time UiO does not have tuition fees however they do require that international students have NOK 80,000 (roughly $13,500) per year of study. And Norwegian law prevents international students outside the EU from working while persuing their studies.

Finally the third step in the process much like the second involves doing further studies at UiO in the form of persuing a PhD in a topic related to Viking Metallurgy.

I have already taken steps to start covering costs on my own by working as much overtime as I can get (though this option is going to be limited once school starts as I will need to focus on school work) as well as moving from the house I was renting to a smaller, cheaper apartment with a roomate to cut costs. Unfortunately these measures alone aren't going to be enough to get me there. Any help you could give would be very much appreciated.