Would You Give Up US$500k A Year For Literature?

Someone named Gary Buslik did. An excerpt from the article:

When Gary Buslik graduated from college with a degree in English, his parents were concerned about how he'd earn a decent living. "It worried them to hear me quoting Shakespeare," he jokes.

Their fears were misplaced: Buslik went on to start an alarm company in Chicago that would eventually grow to $6 million in annual sales and earn him $500,000 a year. But he wasn't happy. "My passion was literature, not alarm systems," he says.

So when Buslik turned 50, in 1997, he sold his business (for several million bucks) in order to pursue that passion. With a recommendation from a pal who was an assistant dean, he got into the English Ph.D. program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. In return for his work as a TA, the school waived his tuition.

Buslik graduated in 2007 and now teaches there part-time while writing books on the side. He makes just $13,500 a year, but "I've never regretted my decision," he says. "I'm content to be sending Shakespeare lovers into the world."