I currently commute 12 hours a week for my MSW program and work 20 hours per week on a graduate assistantship that is paying for my second year of school (meaning I will graduate with 20k in loans).
My advice: DO NOT DO IT. I *hate* it. Between 24 hours a week in internship, 20 hours a week in assistantship work, 12 hours a week in commuting, and about 30 hours a week in classwork (not to mention attempting to train for a marathon), I'm going about 90 hours a week right now. I'm lucky that I have a partner who cooks and cleans, because otherwise I would be eating fast food and living in a trash heap at home.
It really takes a toll on everything. I don't have time to invest myself fully in anything, including my schoolwork or in my relationship at home. If I had those extra 12 hours a week, I would be sooooooo much happier. I cannot even describe it.
I would say that financial considerations are really important when you are considering a career in social work. Sure, there is IBR and loan forgiveness programs, but carrying that much debt will impact your ability to take out other loans (for cars or homes), particularly because you won't have the salary to compensate for it, no matter where you graduate from. And loan forgiveness programs limit the types of jobs you can take.
