I'm curious which counseling degree you're looking at getting, because $500-$1,000 sounds like a lot per credit, but maybe in your state, it's reasonable. Would this be a clinical social worker degree, by any chance? My DH is in grad school right now at a state university, and credits are less than $400. It's a 58 credit program, so with books, will end up costing us about $25,000 max. He was able to do the program part-time for the last year, but it is getting increasingly difficult to manage the workload of grad school (esp. the required internship hours) alongside even a part-time job. He plans to quit his job before next fall when he'll need to switch to full time student status. He looked at a social work degree option, but it would have required full time attendance and a job would have been nearly impossible.
Also, I'm curious about which states you'd be looking to move to, because the type of degree you get may limit (or expand) your job prospects in different regions of the US. For example, one of my cousins has a degree that allows her to work as a counselor in Atlanta, but she'd likely need additional certifications or more grad school in order to practice as a counselor in our area (Minnesota). And the degree my DH is getting may limit him somewhat in terms of moving to other states (especially California, for weird somewhat political reasons), but will be very good in our area.
Also, if you aren't planning on using the degree for many years after obtaining it, it may be better to wait to start the degree closer to your expected quit date from your current job, because counseling is a field which generally requires you to have continuing education/training and current licensure in your state. Maybe you are already aware of all of this, but just in case not. :)