Congrats to her; it really is an awesome school. If you're an in-state resident (presumably you are), its (since I dorm) 18k a year. I get financial aid, which includes loans from the fed, so theres no cost for me, for now, lol. Interest accumulates 50$ a semester, which is the only thing I pay off right away. When I graduate in a few years, then I'll have to worry about the payments, which will be minuscule to their total amount lol. Also, just to keep in mind, they have a cost comparison chart. Truly shows a massive difference.
http://www.stonybrook.edu/ugadmissions/financial/comparison.shtml
Their graduate school is ranked ~34th (in 2009 I believe), which was tied to NYU. Only better schools are Ivy leagues, or Cali state schools. 

Hey eupho, we have similar background in video games. Also start at age 3 in 1887 with a nes and atari console. An idea here, for all things you are able to do without a degree, such as journalism or quality insurance tester, just put a fake degree on your CV and your done ; ). Whats nice is that those jobs can lead to more important job later on if your motivated. Theyll never know you dont really has a degree, and if you do the job, they dont care anyway.

My plans personally are keep working as a sales manager for the company I work with a few more years. Then work as  PR or regional sales manager for SCE. I would also like some kind of connection between SCE and SCEJ, I like work traveling, its never the same thing.

Makin' videogaes is quite difficult, it's not so funny than playing them. By the way, do you know C or Java?

i have always felt like you... but i am Portuguese and there are only one or two game developers in my country, so that narrow things down even more. if you say that you would want to create a game of your own, and likes to write, why don't you create a IP, one genre or just write a plot for a game and try to some publisher grab that and turn it into a game... just a thought.

You can start with xna and develop little indie games for the xbox 360.

I can give you a list of very good tutorials if you want to

Since further schooling is out due to funding I would suggest to you to try to become a game tester - granted you will need to be very passionate about the job as it usually isn't very good pay, but like someone else said it will get your foot in the door.

I'd suggest you look for "smaller" game companies - up here in Ontario we had/have a company called "Groove Games" a guy who I went to college with worked there, the pay was crap and was part time to boot, it actually cost him as much to travel to Toronto 5 days a week for 4 hour days as he got paid :P

He eventually worked his way up to become the QA lead there.  I have no idea what he is doing nowadays though.

Like I mentioned above, I can't make one myself without schooling.

I can write, so that isn't an issue. Plus I always have weird ideas in my head and I tend to draw them while at work or begin writing little stories. I always send them to co-workers, they find them amusing. I tend to be very comedic. I am usually the joker in the room.

Sometimes I can also be just sitting down, look at the floor or wall and always find something within.  My bathroom tile for example, it has this design that would normally look like nothing, just brown lines and patches, almost as if it were rusted. However, for the longest time each time I stare at it I can swear I see a set of womanly legs, along with an ass too. They say you do your best thinking on the toilet right?

Is that weird? I guess so, but I see things from body parts to faces to even weapons. I like to draw those a lot as well. My artwork isn't the greatest, but it is more than enough to get the point across. Not too great at shadowing or portraying depth. Art was the only thing I took multiple courses of in Highschool. I dropped language to focus on art only.

At the moment the best I could do is probably take time, write a story and create some artwork.

Also most of what I do would be quite niche.

You sound unfocused.  I think you should re-evaluate why you really want to get into the industry.  If you are making airplane parts for the government and you have health insurance and a decent income, I would really hesitate to think about moving into the gaming industry, the jobs won't be plentiful and they aren't very stable - especially in this economy.  If you are going to get married and start a family, I would say don't do it.

If you want to be a programmer, you can get started with XNA (free).  Learn Java, C , and start brushing up on math. This is probably the hardest part for you because real game programming requires a lot of math and you sound like you are a writer.

If you want to be an artist, start learning how to use 3D packages like Blender (free) or Maya/3DS and practice until you can put together a decent portfolio.

Look at what mod teams are looking for, and see if you can break into that.  If you can get on a project that finishes, it'll be good for the resume and it will show you can finish something to the end.

I hate math. Programming is definitely not where I would want to be. I would want to be in a position where writing and/or drawing is involved. 

*misread -> edit

You propably know that you have to be really good if you want to work on the art. Reviewing games is IMO your best choice...

You should keep your job and try to make some name for yourself by doing reviews on some websites. I think your best choice to try it out is the sites where you are somewhat known, like vgchartz maybe? I bet you have some games on your collection which vgc has not reviewed. Offer them to the editors and if they are good enough, they might publish them. If they do that, at least some people will read your reviews. You might get some feedback and with that, become a better writer. Maybe some day you will get noticed and get paid for doing reviews.

That is how my friend got a job reviewing games. It did take a lot of effort and patience but for him, it paid back.