What is it like to do really well in high school and then NOT go to college?

I ask because it looks like this is going to be happening to me. I took advanced placement classes, did very well on the the AP and SAT exams, was at the top of my class in history and science, and was generally an all around excellent student. Unfortunately, circumstances outside my control have seriously delayed my college attendance, perhaps indefinitely.

First off, a combination of several divorces and a meth addiction on the part of my mother left what was formally a middle class family with no savings and a very low income. Then in my sophomore year she got pregnant to a guy who has since been serving a long jail term. Because were already living on the edge of homelessness, I was required to get a job to help her support the new baby. When it came time senior year to begin applying for colleges, I knew there was absolutely no way I would be able to afford to a 4 year college. I had already applied for over a dozen grants/ scholarships, but I was rejected by all of them which meant I had no money for higher education (I have since learned that my Social Security information had serious errors in it that probably caused the grants to reject me, a legacy of my mother’s many divorces).

I instead decided to go the community college route, and then transfer to a 4-year college later. I didn’t even get to finish the first semester before disaster hit: the rent in my families apartment was jacked way up at the same time my mom lost her job (we can’t just move to another place because her credit score is too low for us to be accepted in anyplace but a ghetto) and I had to take another job, which left me no time to attend classes. I had to drop out of college. It has been more than 2 years now and I still haven’t been able to go back to class. Of course, the only jobs I can get pay dirt because I have no degree. I make just enough to pay my share of the rent in my families apartment and the rest goes to gas and food.

So, is/has anybody else been in a similar situation? How are you dealing with it or how did you escape it? It certainly sucks to know that your are smarter ( I have a genius level IQ according to the GATE program) than most of the people you are serving sandwiches to for minimum wage, all because your family is poor.