Asking for help early is cheaper than asking for help after it all collapses.

Problems compound while you are deciding whether you are allowed to mention them. A missed week of a class is a conversation, and a missed month is a different class. The same holds for money, a job going wrong, a friendship going cold. Early help is cheap not because the problem is smaller, but because more of the fixes are still available.

Think of the thing you are hoping will sort itself out. Work out what asking would cost you now against what it would cost in a month. Then ask now, badly and without the right words if necessary, because the later version is the expensive one.