i'm not doing anything new than repeating what everyone else has already said before me, but, do your own thing.
the most important thing for you to do for yourself is whatever makes you happy, and you are the only person in the whole world who can find out what that thing is, not the teachers, not your friends or fellow students, not your family, not some stranger that you never spoken to before that randomly replies to your questions on some online forum dedicated to people with a heavy interest for tying up others or getting tied up themselves.
YOU ARE THE ONLY PERSON WHO CAN FIND OUT, nobody else.
like you said yourself, your'e only 18, you barely have any life experience, and your'e not even sure if you can pay for the education.
the only advice i can give you is to follow your instincts.
the answer is hidden somewhere inside you, you just have to start digging, it might be deep, so it could take a while, but it's in there somewhere.
for me personally, i didn't feel like getting a higher education when i was younger, and i already knew before i even started high school that i would not bother going to some kind of university. so i took culinary lectures during high school, worked some extra at a local pub and in the butcher section of a local grocery store, and as soon as high school finished i started working as a chefs apprentice at a hotel.
two years later i received a diploma for my culinary skills, and i'm still working as a chef and a bartender today at the age of 26.
i didn't need a high education at all, and i got a pay check that might not be the best to brag about, but still good enough to live my life the way i want. meanwhile, i'm still watching several of my old classmates who struggles with finding out what to do with their life, who's still working on a high education, who's still in debt for the rest of their lives because of all their student loans, and they still don't even know what to do about their life.
then again, i also have friends who got a higher education, recently finished it, and today work at their dream job with a paycheck so high they could fill a bathtub with fresh money every month, but these people knew what they wanted to study before they even started studying.
again, the only true answer to your question is another question:
what do YOU want? not what other think you should do.
if you want to study, then do it.
if you want to get a job and wait with your studies, then do it.
if you want to travel somewhere and see if you can find your inner spirit, then do it.
but whatever you decide, let it be your own decision! not some other pricks decision.
