Hello again.
My wife and I currently gross about 64k (32k each) working as management in fast food. In the time since I discovered this blog, we finally reached a position to send us both to school part time.
My wife isn't particularly interested in anything. She's 20 years old with no previous college. We've talked a lot and tossed around ideas, and she's probably going to pursue some level of nursing.
Then there's me. I have roughly two years of completed general education under my belt, plus some math through differential. I'm also not particularly interested in anything. More accurately, everything interests me, but I'd rather keep my working career as short as possible. I have always excelled well beyond my peers in every science and math related subject I've been a part of, so there are a lot of viable options for me.
Should I pursue an engineering (most likely electrical, as I've already done some class and lab work for it) or take a quicker part like the nursing degree she's considering? The program at our community college includes a two year nursing program with weekend attendance. I could do it while working full time. On the other hand, I can't fit in more than one (two if I'm lucky) engineering classes around my work schedule, so I'm still looking at several years to finish. Summer and winter class opportunities are extremely limited.
I'm mostly looking for objective opinions. If we leave school out and continue with our current careers, we could save enough for a modest retirement and so still very early. We can get our yearly expenses down to about 15k while renting an apartment.