I'm currently an RN, and I'm considering going back to school to be a CRNA (nurse anesthetist). I more than meet most of the admission requirements, I would just have to take the GRE to have everything I need to apply. I've thought about it off and on over the years, I enjoy aspects of it that I know they do, more autonomy, it's a challenge for me-which is exciting but scary...etc. Comes with much more responsibility and stress. It also would almost triple my current income... I make roughly 60K before taxes, and CRNA jobs start (in the places I'm looking) anywhere from 140-200k. I would take on student loans in probably in the 120k range while I'm in school. Terrifying number for me, I have already paid 50K off of my undergrad and have 7k left. My DH and I have been paying off debt and we are down on one CC, which we will hopefully have completely paid off in the next 9 months. The only debt we will have after that are his student loans (35K), my loan(7k), and our house.
I'm trying to decide if it makes sense to do this, commit 3 years of my life to school, lose my yearly income for 3 years, plus take on 120k more debt. However the job is more challenging, I would make triple what I do now, and the job satisfaction of a CRNA is much higher from what I can find than a regular RN. If I did this now, it would work very well for my DH and I's time table as we are going to be in the area at least 2 more years for his job.
I'm afraid to take on that much debt, especially now that we are finally getting to a point where we don't have much anymore. But the earning potential is great, I feel like I could knock out those loans in a few years after and then be able to sock money away. arrgh.