thank you everyone for all the advice and support. i guess i really overthink this whole process way too much and the resulting paralyzing anxiety doesn’t help.
to elaborate a bit more on my situation: yes as far as i know i can legally work since i have all the documents most americans have like social security and employment authorization etc. i just dont have a permanent resident visa/green card though. from reading through the US government’s page on eligible non-citizens, ive determined im not an eligible one; the closest thing i have is a pending asylum application which has been pending for approval for years and i don’t know when it will be approved if ever. im also a TPS holder but it doesn’t really do anything to qualify me for federal aid.
soon im gonna have to just go to my CC and enroll in whatever. i met with an advisor previously and she told me my first semester could be comprised of some pretty basic classes.
i guess what i’m wondering now is whether it might be worth applying to other colleges this August while i am enrolled in my community college. i don’t know what id gain from it or if id be applying as first-year or transfer, or if colleges would see my application differently given that i’ve just enrolled elsewhere; i mostly get the feeling that i’d just be applying for the sake of getting an idea of what colleges would accept me from my vague list and what kind of aid they might offer me.