Feeling stuck

Sorry this might be a bit long!

Currently I work as the cheif instructor at a dojo here in California. It's awesome to tell people that that is what I do and I love teaching. Everything else sucks. We're technically independent contractors except we work pretty much like hired employees. Same work schedule each week with the same students in the same time slot. Again I don't mind having a set schedule but the issue is that it feels like the company gets to avoid paying more for things like providing us with any sort of benefits. The pay is terrible in that I'm making pretty much the equivalent of $9.50 an hour. (Minimum wage is currently $12 in Cali.) There is commission that I can make by signing up more people for classes but I honestly hate the sales bit of my job. I still do it and I don't feel like my turn over rate is all that great.

If I get so sick I can't come, in the owner of the school will try to find someone but if not I still have to come in. The best I can do is try to pass on my lessons as much as possible to other instructors and just hang out in the office untill my last lesson of the day. Getting days off either for illness or vacation is nail biting work. Twice this year I've gone into work with strep throat because my boss couldn't find anyone. (Yes he knew what I had and it hurt me morally just going in with the possibility of getting someone sick.) When I asked if I could wear a mask he told me "no" and to just "keep your distance"

I'm considered the cheif instructor which means I'm teaching the majority of the people who train here and act as the manager of the dojo and my boss is the owner. He's slowly been coming in less and less because he has work to do at HQ and work he wants to get done with house renovations he's doing by himself. I work 6 days of the week and soon he will be working 3 days a week, 2 days in which people actually see him. He makes almost twice the amount that I make each week.

Recently though with the loss of two instructors in the last 1.5 years we've also lost a lot of students. Now the dojo isn't doing so great. My boss, not wanting to come back in full time, is leaving it up to me to bring in more students and save the ship but as I've said I haven't had the best turn over rate.

I've been wanting to quit for a while but with these new responsibilities it feels impossible and like I'll be the end of the dojo if I leave without bringing in some new students. The other two instructors here are new and really not confident in their abilities. My boss is thinking about just letting one go because of how much it's effecting the dojo. So if I leave I don't know who will come in that's capable. Most likely I'm forcing my boss's hand in coming back in and I know he'll talk shit about me because of it.

Honestly this job has more cons than pros and I want to feel content in a job and content financially. The only way I can actually still live off this job is that I live with my parents while I go to college. But even with school I've gone through it working the whole time. Finish classes and then running to work. I haven't actually gotten to experience school, and I really want to considering I just transferred from a JC to a four year college. My family and fiance all tell me to quite my job but I feel so stuck where I am and don't know what to do or when it would be appropriate to leave. Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and possibly reply!