This field rewards experience, knowledge and dedication. The longer you have been in the field, the more experience and knowledge you have, the more money you will be compensated. With the current recession, high unemployment and the fact that EVERYONE is going back to school for healthcare, thus making competition for entry level jobs that much greater, most new coders are glad to get their foot in the door, to gain experience and eventually move up to better jobs and better pay, even if that means getting paid $11 anhour for a year, the eventual pay is usually worth it.
As far as auditing goes, no, you do not need a degree to audit medical records, you need at least 3 years experience and be well versed in E/M coding. That being said, if you want to become a consultant, or something similar to that, most employers would prefer you have a more well rounded HIM background (rather than just straight coding knowledge) and will probably prefer you have at least a RHIT/RHIA, and some will even want a Masters.
But to sum up, I will almost guarantee that you were mislead on the pay of this field. There are some directors, consultants, analysts, etc that get paid $80,000-$100,000 a year, but they are the exception and have at least a bachelors, if not a masters and have been in the field 10+ years.
As far as someone who only has a billing/coding certificate, the average pay is going to top out around $40,000-55,000. But, when you consider you only went to school for 8 months, that is not bad pay.
Again, this is just my personal opinion and what I have noticed with my 6 years in this field. I hope others will chime in and share their experience and knowledge as well.