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You can start by reading a number of books. I'm actually trying to remember which HOPE talk was given regarding forensics (at least one of several years worth so it'll take me some looking).

The real problem comes after the initial education though. In forensics, you have to be ready to back up your findings in court as an expert witness. To gain the credibility to be considered an expert witness, you need to work your way up to it. This takes time on the job. Frequently forensics folks have prior work history in law enforcement just to get the credibility by becoming known in the court system (as prosecutes witness not defendant). It's a hard position to earn and easily lost if you start being proven wrong on the stand.

My uneducated guess is that a university course and resulting co-op or whatever entry level work is going to be less expensive than going it alone and starting out as a complete unknown.