Gadget Girl: Working on my I.T. Masters Degree in Information Assurance

Gadget Girl: Working on my I.T. Masters Degree in Information Assurance

Working on my I.T. Masters Degree in Information Assurance

Education ain't cheap, even with Tuition Reimbursement!  I am wondering if a Masters degree in I.T. is really even worth it?  I mean, afterall, I get knowledge pay from my employer for every Industry Certification I get, but not for a Masters Degree!  Not even for a Bachelors or Associates.  Seems certs are where it's at.

So, what will a Masters get me?  Possibly make me more marketable for Managerial positions?  (Although as a teen I didn't like babysitting, so I doubt I will now).  Maybe enable me to teach at the Community/Vocational College level?  I'm just not sure.  I'm also not sure if it's worth the time or the money.  The money is a big issue, tuition for an out-of-state student is pretty outrageous!  So I've been trying to come up with clever ways to make extra moolah.  Here they are:

1. Ebay - yes, my whole life is pretty much for sale right now.  Not only do I despise clutter (there's no quicker way to get me in the Looney Bin), but I need hard cold cash for my crap.  One Geekette's crap is another's treasure, or so I hear.  So, I will shamelessly post the URL to my Ebay store & hope Google brings a few customers my way:  http://members.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=squash_goddess
2. Amazon - Amazon if often over-looked by Ebayers as a potential way to peddle your crap for cash.  In this case, it's more like books and gadgets, which in all fairness probably shouldn't be referred to as crap.  But, to a person such as myself, anything that's in your house & cluttering it up is crap.  So there we have it.  Another shameless URL coming your way:  http://www.amazon.com/shops/squash_goddess
3. Cyber-begging - Ever hear of this innovative way to make $$?  A friend of mine needed a new video camera, a rather high-end one (she's an Indie movie producer).  Her solution?  Create a cyber-begging account, post it to Facebook, and shamelessly ask friend and acquaintences to donate via her linked Paypal account.  Pretty kewl, I thought.  I don't have a cyber-begging account yet, but if sales don't go well (please refer to my other 2 shameless URLs above), I just may have to stoop this low!
4. Elance - Well, I did have an account with them but had no luck on the few proposals I posted.  Also, Elance pissed me off by emailing me one day to announce that the account I haven't used in 3 years was in violation of the user policy.  Apparently, I had a link in my profile to my web site (which, in my defense, was NOTHING more than an about me website!  It didn't even contain links to my online stores!).  Horrors!  I emailed Elance back & told them to just get rid of my account & that I had no idea what they were talking about.  Yeesh!  Just thought I'd throw that out there for other folks who might be looking for other means of income.  Elance is a great place to get extra $$, esp. if you are in technology or for "virtual assitants".
5. Grants/Scholarships, etc - Well, this could be a viable solution since I have the GPA, but after looking around, I discovered that the majority of scholarships are either for people with very specialized skills, without any degree to begin with (like, you are a single mother of 6+ kids with only a high school diploma), or are some rare species of human.  I have a degree, my only skill is playing with PCs, & I'm a white female (with a touch of Native American).  Wah.

So, if you all have any other clever ways to fund an education, please feel free to comment!

PS - I hope this post isn't in violation of E-Bloggers rules, whatever they are...