Whining

So, in order to keep my job/be considered for better jobs/be fully qualified, I need to get into a master's program. I don't know what kind of master's. Probably English or an MFA in Creative Writing. I'm just feeling really unmotivated about the whole thing now. I'm not sure I want to be a creative writer (like, as a career), and I'm not sure I want to be an English teacher, seriously. I'm good at what I do, yes I could be better, but I don't want the expense and to spend the extra time trying to jump through hoops to satisfy some accreditation agency or the higher-up mucky mucks where I work in order to get this degree that is just as useless as a bachelor's degree and that won't garner anyone more respect (or even much more money) where I work. Really, the main reason I can see for getting a master's degree is for my children. They're the best reason, but in order to get a master's degree I'll have to spend money, significant money, and that would take away from the kids' college educations.
I looked at the salaries for people with master's degrees where I work. I didn't mean to, but they printed out on the printer in my computer lab (we can't tell where things are being printed from, but all the printers on campus are networked so sometimes something someone prints in another building will come chugging out of our printer in the lab). So, the newest employee hired here with a master's degree makes $31,300. That's five thousand  per year more than I make. Is it because she has a master's degree? Sure. But making the same amount is a person who has worked here for fifteen years and who only has a bachelor's degree. Granted, this other person always feel paranoid that she's going to lose her job, but she still makes THE SAME AMOUNT as an entry level employee with a master's degree. Not only that, but another person in my department just got her master's degree. They are paying her 78 cents more per hour than they were before, or roughly a $1688 raise.
And I look at these MFA programs and the cost of tuition--$10,000 a year. I don't have $10k a year. If I had $10k a year extra I'd have to use it to send my children to college and/or pay for other expenses. Like, consider the fact that we've been homeless for four years, we're supporting ten people, my husband is constantly in and out of the hospital for medical care related to his dialysis, and the fact that the price of everything is going up while a recession bears down on us...even with the supplement from faculty development I might be able to get from our university, I'd still have to pay more than $3k of my own money or more per year to get this degree.
I know, these all sound like excuses and my reasoning on them isn't even that good. It would be great to make more money, even as little as $1600 more per year. It would be great to make $31,300 a year like that other person who they hired instead of me because she has a master's degree. It would be awesome to not be paranoid I'm going to lose my job. I'm just feeling kind of overwhelmed by the complicated process of getting into graduate school, trying to find the money to pay for it, and all the extra work that would be required once I did get into graduate school. Bleh.

It's our four year anniversary. We can't afford to go anywhere or do anything. I'll probably have a glass of wine later and whine about how broke we are. I have to admit, I'm kind of surprised we made it this far, especially after that rocky first year (first few weeks, really). And that rocky second year where Alan spent six weeks in the hospital And the rocky third year where I had a job I hated making less than minimum wage...and year four, all the deaths and illnesses in our family. Maybe year five will be much, much better. We can  hope, right?