TL;DR at end hey blades, so I got the D by the police a while ago and my court date is this next Tuesday. Since I got caught by the on campus police at my university I also have fines from the school on top of that. I am pretty nervous about all of this, its my first time in legal trouble and I can't have my parents finding out about this for a while. If they do I will probably lose some funding for school along with various other punishments, stuff I really don't need right now. As a student you can imagine I am pretty poor, and most of my spending money goes towards weed and food with the occasional video game. I don't have a job right now so I would imagine I would be able to qualify for a public defender. If not, I'm fucked. I was charged with possession (less than 40g) and paraphernalia use. I am pretty sure the paraphernalia use could be dropped, since they didn't catch me taking a hit or with the pipe in my hand. When they asked how much I smoked (in hits) I said none, but they mistook that as one. I don't think there is much I can do about the possession charge though. So here is question one: is anyone familiar or have any stories to tell of total fines and penalties such as probation/jail for similar cases in a state such as WA? I am on the east side of the state where people are less-cool with weed, but I heard that jail time is rare and fines are normally not too large. Also, is there anything I should know about appearing in court? I know to dress nice, but I am unsure about what exactly to plea. I know pleading guilty is generally dumb, but what about pleading not guilty vs no contest? Will a not guilty plea potentially increase court costs since I will have to appear at a later date? I am extremely worried about my finances, since I only have ~1.1k total in savings, so anything that increases costs substantially is no good for me. When could these records possibly be expunged as I would like a clean record again at some point? I really don't want to tell my parents since they will flip shit and I would hate for them to be disappointed in me again. But would not telling them be even worse in the long run, or would they really be able to help me? I know they love me, but possibly losing college funding doesn't sound too good. My parents and I don't really have the best of relationships either. I am an adult and kinda want to prove it to myself that I can do this on my own. Finally, if anyone is familiar with WA universities and the courts surrounding them, shoot me a PM and I can be more specific if need be. TL;DR I am scared as balls about appearing in court next Tuesday for 2 misdemeanors, not really sure if I want my parents finding out, don't know what to plea, and only have ~1.1k total to spend. Basically, WAT DO. Thanks to everyone for any and all help, my thoughts are just racing 24/7 and if my parents don't kill me this anxiety may. -Avy