Tammie, 

You can always invest in real estate, regardless of capital.  You are highly professional and have a great deal of knowledge, if you were to find people who would be willing to put up the capital for your doing the work of finding the properties, pulling together the rehab crews and placing tenants, that would be worth a 50/50 split.  So make a list of people that would be interested in partnering with you on 12-20% ROI properties that have $15,000-$30,000 equity.  Franklin, TN probably has some awesome properties with great returns!  This could really help cover college expenses.  Also, many people have old IRA's or 401k's that can be rolled into self directed IRA's to be used in real estate.  If they have been earning 4%, this would be very attractive to them!