If you’re looking at paying for certs I personally would stick with ones from common organizations, like CompTIA, (ISC)^2, SANS, Cisco, etc. I think a lot of the value in the cert (at least for career purposes) comes from the name recognition and trust placed in the organization certifying you. A recruiter looks at a Sec+ credential and knows exactly what that entails, whereas a certification from a lesser known organization or community college doesn’t do much to tell them what you know or have studied.