A couple of things. Since you said that you are an "Advanced" student, I would suggest getting an engineering degree from a traditional school. If you have an engineering degree you will have options. You can use your engineering degree on most race teams. You can also use your engineering degree in a normal professional setting. If you find life on the road a pain, you can always trade it in for an office cube.

Second, you may want to revisit your expectations. I not sure that there are many jobs in the real world paying 50K for someone with no experience with a two year trade/technical degree.