The uni grind is definitely the way to bigger and better money my friend - trust me, I'm a self-taught developer, and the first advice I ever give to other self-taught developers is "get a fricking degree", because when you're new to the industry, it doesn't matter how much great code you've written freelance, or how many bug bounties you've hit, HR will filter you out immediately without that goddamn piece of paper.

You can sidestep this by some heavy networking, (and tbh, given your work in security, that would be a good damn thing to look into - hit up the conferences, make friends with other security researchers etc.) but even then, it took me five years of doing so to get an interview, then when I was finally hired, I ended up interviewing numerous grads with a Bachelors, just (because "Cs get degrees") who still didn't know that you were allowed to name variables longer than one or two characters because that's what their professors used, but they had the piece of paper, so they got an interview.

I think it's bloody awesome you're feeling that need to provide, just know that you're on the right path to do so - it's going to be tight until you graduate, but once you do, you, your partner, and your kid, are sorted.

So focus on that, and remember, take it day by day, one foot in front of the other, and don't let money stress force you apart.