It is a great way to educate yourself and build relationships for joint ventures, generating funds, and well just having a good time.  

Best/first thing to do is get educated.

The in-person places they told me to look at were:NY Real Estate InstituteBassett Educational ServicesHudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR)Orange County Community CollegeAdvanced Training InstituteAny thoughts?

Best/first thing to do is get educated.

He's offered to give me first dibs on the place.I've been blessed with a free college education, and I would like to flex some of this good credit that I've been building.

I also run Software for a company out of San Diego, California, and my business partner and I own a freelance Software Consulting company.I have been interested in real estate investing for a while now and am just now taking the steps to educate myself so I can make the best decisions possible. 

-contact local landlords and get their feeling of the interaction (easy, heavy handed, not at all, waiting forever) with the local HA; also for the quality of the available local section 8 tenants- i would look for tenants previously long-term in their former place; then you educate them/train them to your requirementscontinuous success

I suggest you stay away from anything asking for a considerable amount of money, if it's a considerable amount to you, it's probably too much.The pyramid schemes are alive and well in the real estate and note investor pools, the profits usually come from the other investors after skimming off the top.As to education, usually the value is grossly over stated and the real quality of an education has more to do with who  presents information than the information, in other words, if it's some nit wit trying to explain the hottest strategy they probably aren't aware of the pitfalls related to what they are saying.

I am looking to increase my education and of course, my income!

You're on the right track by educating first and you've come to the right place.