Paralegals get paid crap. I know someone who is one and has a debt of $60,000 for one year of law school she hated and dropped out of. She had a double degree from a UC. She got a certificate and asked for a raise and they told her “no” because they didn’t care about the certificate at all. This is in CA.
Also an AA is not a ‘paid degree’ it is little more than a HS degree according to studies.