Thanks for your responses. Here's the answers to your questions: My short term goal is to take additional science and math courses so I can tutor more people from home and make more money. My medium term goal is to prove to graduate programs (and admissions committees) that I can handle the rigor of their work. I've been advised to take more than a full semester of classes all at one time to prove this. So, I would like to take more than 12 credits, and ideally much more than 12 credits. Per admissions, all I need is one semester for this "proof." My long term goal is to settle into a decent-paying career that has plenty of jobs available (not an oversaturated field). I believe that I can find a career like this after going through a graduate program. (I do actually have a specific career and graduate program in mind and hope it works out.)

Given this information, do you have any additional suggestions that could help me financially or otherwise? I'm still interested in hearing more responses to the questions in the OP.