I was in the lower half of my class. 2.77 gpa. High school was not important to me. I thought I would be a famous magician without school.
Well then, short of hijacking Marty McFly's DeLorean and traveling back to the beginning of high school (or earlier), your chances for a scholarship have dropped from slim to statistically impossible.
Betcha high school's lookin' a LOT more important right about now, hunh?
It could be worse - you could have done like I did and throw away a full scholarship. Granted, my head wasn't entirely on straight back then, but opportunities like that don't generally come more than once.
But don't let that discourage you. Many colleges, public institutions in particular, will allow people to audit a class, especially if it's not totally filled - but check with the professor first.. Auditing means you can sit in the class, watch the lectures, take all the notes you want. You can't take the labs or earn credit, though some professors might even be sympathetic enough to score your tests and quizzes for you. You can then opt to save the cash and "test out" of the class once you can afford to pay for the credits if you did well enough and feel confident enough to do it again. It's the slow and winding road to a degree, but it's better than the Acme brick wall that Wiley Coyote is so fond of... You'd probably have to pay a student registration fee in order to have access to campus buildings and facilities, but that's a drop in the bucket compared to full-time tuition. Trust me, you want that student ID card - the college library tends to be much better funded, better stocked and more focused on learning rather than the latest spy thriller, sci-fi trilogy epic or romance novel series...
Also consider alternatives to college. There is an ocean of college grads out there right now who took all the classes, paid all the tuition, partied in all the right Spring Break destinations and still found themselves out of work in a grim job market with college loan payments preparing to kick in. Look for alternative opportunities - find something you have an aptitude for and see if you can get an apprenticeship or an entry-level position that provides training. You mentioned magic - perhaps there's a well-known or moderately-well known magician out there who's willing to take on an apprentice. Crazier things have happened.
No matter how you slice it, however, people today are beginning to realize that in certain fields of endeavor, a college degree won't mean jack squat as long as you're willing to teach yourself and learn from those around you in your field.
If that fails, pick a trade and go to a technical school. Do a little research on government websites and see what careers are trending up in the various trades, in terms of salary and openings both, then find a school that will teach your favorite one to you. It really has to be your favorite, or you're going to get bored and lose motivation. In many places, such jobs are unionized (depends on state laws, so be open to move for a higher rate of pay) and they tend to pay well for experienced go-getters who become tops in their trade. Around here, a good electrician (as opposed to a garden variety wire puller) can make six figures a year, particularly if they're specialized in computer networks and telecommunication.
