Collecting arrearages once you become an adult.

I am a 26 year old female who has never been supported by my biological father. My mother informed me that years ago, I was adopted by my step father. I was about 11 years old at the time. She then credited most of my back child support back to my biological father. I did not agree w/ this but had no say in the matter. I feel as though his continued absence in my life warrants that he should still be responsible for the years in which i was still legally his child. I would like to know if it is possible to collect the arrearages and how to go about it. I was a student but has since had to maintain full time employment, for the last 4 years. It would be a great help if I could recover this because i would use it to pay for schooling. Is there any way that this can be done without costing myself more money?