22 year old in need of career/schooling advice :)

Option C doesn't really have any cons, what you listed are your fears. Totally agree. And the pros are pretty good pros! Besides, you will be learning a lot of positive life lessons (living away from home, making new friends etc) which are priceless. Here's a tip from an old chick. Courage is a muscle. It needs exercising to gain strength. The rush from exercising courage on your own behalf is sublime. I get a warm glow in my chest when I think about the times I challenged my fears and won. Because you always win, the win is in the challenging, not the outcome. BTW, you sound self-aware and together.

I think you're getting ahead of yourself. Before you go to graduate school for speech pathology you have to get a bachelor's degree, right? Work on that first, take all of the courses you need to be accepted in a graduate program in speech pathology. You may find that some of your courses open you up to other appealing and lucrative possibilities. If you can stay where you are and go to a state school for your BA/BS you might want to keep your barista job because it will be easier to schedule your working hours there around your school hours than in most office jobs.

Reading your question, I am struck by how much positive energy you have around option C. It seems like you're about 90% sold and want the hivemind to give you permission to pursue that option. So you have my permission! I would definitely make sure you shadow a variety of speech pathologists - in schools, in hospitals, in care homes, etc. - before committing to a long and expensive program. But assuming you like it, it sounds like it could be a good fit for you. One thing to think about (since I get to play devil's advocate): the difference between 10k + free rent and 7k + paying for a place to live, utilities, food, etc. probably ends up about even. Unless cost of living is really dirt cheap, you might end up closer to 11k a year for option C. Something to think about as you're considering your options.

Option C. Do something big and definitive so you can stop telling yourself this narrative about how decisions are hard and you're not good at it. It's actually more important that you nip THAT story in the bud before 25 than actually finding a lifelong career. So just pick a thing and do it and figure out later if you need to make a direction change. Picking a direction is not a death sentence, and you are correct that speech pathology is a very broad industry that isn't going away, and also has the sort of future we can't even imagine right now because of technology. It's a smart pick, and the coursework will put you in a position to pursue any number of science graduate degrees if speech pathology turns out to not be your bag (college is where you often get exposed to new bags you don't even know about yet). But going a few miles away for the cheapest school is also the most reasonable decision in general. Baby birds need to leave their nests, and they should do it with the least amount of education debt possible. Also stop basing your life decisions on your boyfriend. Statistics are not on your side here, but also being a wife is no longer sufficient to keep you (or him, or your children) from starving to death, so reorder your priorities. Being able to support yourself is more important than anything else, including happiness, which you can't eat. If you can internalize the fact that life comes with discomfort and that's just tough shit, you get through it and keep going, you will be more successful earlier than a significant percentage of your peers. Making a decision is always more productive than rolling around boneless in a puddle of excuses.

Yes, if, after shadowing a number of speech pathologists, you decide this work is for you totally go with option C. I agree with others, that by the time you factor in cost of rent and utilities and what not, you may be nearer total cost of the next cheapest options but there is a lot to be said for moving away a bit and exploring life elsewhere purely in terms of development and confidence building. So if people around you are telling you this is a nice place and are supportive of you going there that's a lot of benefits in addition to your education.

Follow your dream, which is option C. +1 for everything pairofshades already said. Also, you are 22. That is just super great, because you have all the flexibility in the world. Even if some of your fears about option C will actually become (temporarily and somewhat) true, your resilience will find options to deal with that situation. I wish you all the luck in the world and a great career. PS: I'm married to a great woman and there was a year where I lived and studied more than a 2 hour drive away from her. Love has ways to deal with distance too.

Speech language pathology is a great option if you like the idea of helping people and find the topic interesting. Moving away from friends and family for school is intimidating but can be wonderful - you will make friends and do fun things and it will likely be a fond memory for you when you're finished the program. I'm still glad I moved away from home for my education, I grew a lot and had a lot of fun. Listen to your gut, it sounds like you know you don't like the idea of office jobs and like the idea of helping people, that's important information! It's not to say there aren't business-y/office jobs that involve helping people but if you're getting excited about this option investigate it and trust yourself. I like this advice from Martha Beck: http://marthabeck.com/2014/06/how-to-track-your-perfect-career/

Most of us are looking at this from our perspective on the other side, and most of us are going to tell you to go for it. We will tell you that striking out on your own in a new town and continuing your education will make you stretch and grow in ways that will benefit you throughout your life. Making moves like this is how you build a life worth living, we think. I'll let the others continue to list all the ways a move will do that for you. I know it's scary. These big decisions send your life on a different path. But just remember, if you make a mistake and absolutely HATE it, you can fix it. It's not permanent, you can make other decisions to keep you moving ahead. Let's say you go with Option C, and after a year you're unhappy, lonely, and have decided speech pathology isn't for you. Where will you be? You'll have another year of (probably) transferable college credit. You'll have knowledge of what you don't want, which sometimes is more valuable than knowing what you do want. You'll have much more confidence in yourself because you did it and can do it again. And honestly, the way life usually works, you might have accidentally discovered a new career or life path that seems perfectly right for you. You can do it. Most of us have done it before you and I'm guessing that most of us have zero regrets.