A college degree is pretty superfluous to be a Machinist, a good technical school should have some sort of ~6 month long technical training program that gets you all the skills you need for a basic job.
At least, that's what I did for Fall 2014. Started my job as a machinist in Jan 15, still working there and doing fine.
Now i'm only 20 and have no level of physical impairment, and living 'at home' leaves expenses real low, so its a pretty decent 'starting' wage (about 30k a year before overtime/raises).
That degree is nice and sets up different options for the long term (I have no plans to stick as a basic operator forever ya know) but if you need a more short term solution just look for the technical training.
You need help let us know, I don't have the spare $/interest for the glaive but if you needed it i'm sure enough of us chipping in a little bit could help.
Less pleasant but also doable would be taking the government up on that extra assistance, such as for housing, until such a time that you don't need it. It's what it is there for so you should at least strongly consider it. Good for you that you haven't so far, but if you need it use it.