Need some general advice

So here’s my situation…about 4-5 years ago I was in college and made some (very) irresponsible decisions which led me to piling up balances of ~ $3,000 and ~$2,000 on credit cards, about a $5,000 unpaid tuition bill (private school).

 

The former two are in collections, the second is in collections but doesn’t report to any of the 3 bureaus.  The collections agency that bought the $3000 debt filed a successful judgement against me for the principal amount (+ interest, which means the total is more like 4-5K now).

 

I was laid off from my job just weeks before I was served papers for the judgement, so it really wasn’t within my power to offer any reasonable payment plan.  After 4 months I have finally found a job and really want to get my credit on track.

 

Now, I’m juggling two different things at the moment…

 

1)  I want to return to school but because of the unpaid tuition at my previous school they will not release transcripts and I am unable to transfer or apply for financial aid because of this.

 

2)  The judgement and collections (I feel) have disqualified me for jobs that I otherwise would have been well-qualified for.

 

My questions are…

 

Now that the judgement is on my credit and background history, do you think even though it is paid employers will still disqualify me for positions because of it?  I have tried to be as up front about these issues as possible especially in expressing my desire to pay off my debts.  It is very frustrating the amount of employers that require pre-employment credit checks regardless of the field and type of work.

 

What order do you think would be best for me to pay them all off?  Judgement, tuition, then the $2000 balance CC?  In all honesty by the time I pay off the first two the statute of limitations may be up on the third account.