I am willing to trade my time for an opportunity to learn.

You might be able to figure out which role you really want to play and by finding those with complementary skills you might be able to put together a good team.

Issue is that long leases trade a lower caps.

The trades like electrical, plumbing, hvac must be licensed but not a general contractor.

Leaving the available cash in our banks so we can start stacking and 1031 trading up on bigger investment properties

pull out your best negotiation skills :) 

The perfect combination is a section 8 tenant with SSI/SSDI and unemployed...we trade safe, clean, and appropriately priced units, for a long term tenant that pays rent on time, every time.In reality, none of us are real estate investors, or landlords, we're housing providers...and as a society, the progress of the most vulnerable is a direct reflection on all of us...and in the US, we're close to the worst in the civilized world at housing people.

I’m not at all a school person but sense they will pay me to go and I can use that education to enhance my investor skills I figured why not?

To properly assess the proper path for one’s portfolio one must do so with a backdrop of accounting for the individuals’ skill in selecting sponsors, accounting for margin of safety in financial modeling, and an understanding of how much “risk capital” the induvial is allocating to the selected opportunity.

It seems like a lot but each member of the group brings their special knowledge and skills to make sure you're on track.