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Re: SOS-Some car advice for the struggling college kid
Changing the timing belt doesn't actually involve "opening up" the engine. Some external parts often have to come off to access the timing belt, but the engine itself (as in the cylinder head and block) remain intact. If it's due for replacement, get it done because if it lets go, your engine becomes a very heavy piece of scrap metal.
As far as going any deeper, at this point those mechanics you spoke to are talking sense. The long term reliability of a Chevy Cobalt is average, nothing more. That means after 200k+ miles, there is no guarantee that car will do another 100k or even another 50k without some kind of major and expensive catastrophe. All you can really do at this point is basic maintainence, don't beat on it too hard, and hope for the best. Another 2 years? Maybe, if those years are gentle and you keep up on maintainence religiously you can pull it off, but if I were you, I'd start thinking of a plan B just in case you can't.
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"Ok, systems check; the battery is discharging, the oil temperature is very high, the oil pressure is very low, the engine temperature is off the end of the scale, I'm running out of petrol... but the clock is correct!"
-James May, in an old, worn out Lamborghini purchased for less than £10,000. 
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