Sorry guys been there done that. Bad news, when it came to the crunch the degree wasn't acknowledged by anyone outside of aviation. Without sounding like a brag my grade point average for the degree was right on the upper limit. The "bells and whistles" I refer to were academic awards. They were useless to. So it wasn't due to poor performance. Just that the degree in aviation wasn't worth anything when it came to getting a job outside of the industry.
Tempo is someone that is in the same boat as myself he is you in 5-7 years.