ive got an 89 350 tpi blah blah...
long story short i sprayed down the engine bay a bit, making note to stay away from the terminally important items like the alternator. the next day i noticed my year old battery was oozing a bit of acid out the top... woops. then i noticed the volt meter in that same day would hold at 18 when the rpms are above 1750. and today when i got up the battery was dead. i jumped it then went about my day with no hick-ups, minus the SES light popping on for a minute on two occasions. still there is high volts when im at high rpm. any ideas would be welcome. all the electrical connectors are clean and snug.

 

you need to get your charging system checked out right away.
it sounds like the alternator may be overcharging. that can cause all kinds of problems, it can burn out the radio, ECM, lights & any other electrical components on the car.
the battery is probably already fried, if it is over charging & the battery checks good, i would still replace it after you get the charging problem fixed.

 

are there any things i could do with a voltmeter at home to check the system without taking the car to a shop?... im a college student and have no money naturally

 

i meant multimeter but i got the SES light coming on because of the the volts being over 17.1 volts for longer than 2 seconds. anyway, chance it could be the voltage regulator something of that nature?

 

yes, you can check it with a multimeter.
odds are it is the regulator which is inside the alternator.
the last time i rebuilt one of my alternators, it seems like the parts ran around $50.00 or so. that was 7 or 8 years ago & im sure the price has gone up.
you may be better off just getting a rebuilt alternator instead of doing it your self.