Therefore, you have to resort to using other sources of funding.

I would note that some of them have penalties if you close them in a certain number of years - I took out one that had a $450 penalty if I closed it (or sold the property) within 3 years of the start date, even if I had a zero balance or never used the funds. 

When the time is right, you will see the deals you are looking for and have the funds available to make several successful moves.

I am wondering if anyone has any insights on how I might get involved with real estate while still studying in school.

And then you have an Operations LLC - a shell LLC that is the public facing entity, doing all the interactions with tenants, contractors, leasing, hiring, management, etc. with no assets and very little funds beyond whats required for proper capitalization and operations.That's the basic idea, but things get complicated from there due to the partnership, financing, commingling, etc - which is your current situation.

However if you do not have the funds to close on the deal yourself or have transactional funding available, then you have to do what you have to do and assign the contract to an end buyer. 

I always have to be up for school at 5 am.

Check with local high schools.

I’m just getting things started and want to get into ‘buy and hold’ properties to bring in some additional cash flow.My wife and I have a decent amount of funds set aside, but I was wondering if it makes sense to open a HELOC on our primary residence and utilize some of those funds as well for a down payment.

I’m specifically looking in great communities and school districts like (name of their township here).