That's a good decision not to quit your present job yet. I was in the same boat as you, working at a hardware store that was steady but not my passion, and boring. So I kept the job as I looked for jobs in my field, and finally found one last October. I can say now that it was the best decision I've made in a long time. But definitely keep your job until you find another. In this economy, any job is good. Night classes are a good idea too, especially if they're online. My advice though, don't go with online universities like the University of Phoenix. I've read more horror stories than good ones, and a lot of employers don't look favorably upon a degree from that institution or ones like it. Be wary of any for-profit schools. If you have a local community college or university, I would consider taking classes with them. Most of them offer online classes that you can take any time of the day. When I got my bachelor's, I took a few online classes and they were quite handy with the hectic schedule I had with classroom-based classes. Just don't take so many that you get overwhelmed. Just because they're online doesn't mean that they don't have heavy workloads. I did that once and I thought I was going to go crazy. I had taken 20 credit hours in one semester. I made it through but it was crazy. That was 6 classes in one semester. Normally I would consider taking 3 to 4 classes. That's an acceptable workload. Also look into what kind of financial aid they offer. Some places are different with how many classes you have to take to get certain types or amounts of financial aid. When I got my associates, 9 hours was full-time, and when I got my bachelor's, 12 hours was full-time. Also, I took out a lot of loans. In hindsight I wish I hadn't. I should've taken just what was needed to pay for the classes. But I used the rest to pay for my apartment's rent. Now I owe about 85,000 dollars.