Do you have an idea of what you want to study, or are you planning to explore for a bit and then decide? And are you set on a particular school (the small local college you mentioned), or was that comment more a way of saying that you aren't looking to go anywhere high-profile or too far away? If you're looking for a cheaper option as a somewhat non-traditional student, you could always look into going to community college for two years and then transferring (or longer, if you wanted to continue working while taking classes part-time). Some state systems have guaranteed transfer policies that give you a spot on their flagship campus after two years if you complete a community college degree with a certain GPA, so those can be good options if you're looking to save money while still getting a solid 4-year degree.
Alternatively, some schools give very good need-based financial aid based on your financial situation. Since you're 24, I think you might be considered financially independent from your parents for college purposes, which means that their income shouldn't affect your financial aid eligibility anymore (I think; check another source to be sure, as I went to college fresh out of high school and didn't pay much attention to the age cutoff for which parents were no longer considered for financial aid purposes). If that is indeed true, and you have a relatively low income and minimal assets, that could help you a lot. Certain schools also have very generous financial aid policies (often ones that are hard to get into, like the Ivies and such), so you could look into those. More broadly, whether you have to report parental income for financial aid or not, one benefit of being 24 is that you should be eligible to get loans without a co-signer. This greatly increases how much money you can borrow without needing a parent to sign, which can help when trying to pay for school.
Do think about what you want to do and how much money it's worth spending for it. I've personally always been a big proponent of college not only as a source of career skills, but also as a growth/broadening experience (i.e., regardless of what you do, I think there's value to getting some of the liberal arts/well-rounded experience, even if you don't go to a liberal arts school), but it is true that in certain fields it can be hard to pay back your loans. Think about whether you want a graduate degree of any kind, too, and plan out what you would need to do to get there, what it would cost, and what you would need that degree for. You may want to balance the costs of various programs vs. the opportunities that those programs would provide re: connections, internships, potential job opportunities down the road, etc.
I would avoid the online option, personally. Maybe there are some good online degrees out there, but I haven't heard great things about any of the ones I've seen discussed. I think there's also something valuable to actually being in a classroom with other people for at least part of your degree. Certainly, there are things that you can learn over the internet, but I would start with some physical classroom experiences and then enhance your education with online materials as needed after you get your degree.
Depending on where you're applying, you may need to dig up a copy of your high school transcript, and you may need SAT and/or ACT scores. If you took one of those tests in the past, it's possible the scores expire, so you might need to take it again. Some schools also require SAT subject tests, though I feel like that's less likely to be true for a small local college than for larger national universities. As a non-traditional applicant, you may want to call up any of the schools you're thinking of applying to and ask them a bit about the process and what materials you need (if the information isn't available on their websites). Depending on the school, you'll need to fill out an application, possibly fill out an additional, school-specific application (may not be necessary for your local school; ask them), and possibly interview, either on campus or with an alum (again, variable, and I think this is more commonly a requirement for schools that get a lot of applicants from all over). For community college, you would probably just need to sign up at an office, and possibly take a math and/or English placement test.
Re: resources to help you prepare, I suppose a lot of people probably have first-hand accounts somewhere online. For broader information, I used to frequent College Confidential when I was deciding on and applying to schools. Its users can be a little high-strung (or they used to be; I haven't been there in years), but there's a lot of good information there. I'm pretty sure they have a financial aid forum there, too, which could help direct you to better resources about financing your education.
