A BA in English Lit is only useful if you are going to teach in the Board of Ed otherwise it is worthless. As far as writing novels, you don’t really make money unless your a best seller on the secular market and you really don’t need a degree to be a best seller.
Many employers are looking for freelances where it’s your knowledge of subject matter not degree that gets you the job. Once they see how productive you are they may hire you next time there is a opening. Moving up in a large organization will require at least a BA and possibly a MBA or higher.
CUNY at $5,000-6,000 per year is your best bet if you feel you need a degree. A year in a private college can cost between $20,000 – over 60,000 and even more if they dorm. Most students don’t decide a major until their second year and don’t give it much thought to the future. Colleges will not tell the parent how their child is doing. I know of parents (non Jewish) whose children dormed and after 4 years of college and over $100,000 in loans found out their child flunked most of the courses and has drug &/or alcohol problems.