I live in Portland, OR, have worked at a community mental health agency for about two years now, and love it. I want to return to get my MSW and eventually become a LCSW. I grew up in Portland but my parents just moved to Oceanside, CA. I am 25. As I see it, I have two options:
1. Stay in Portland, work full time (at least attempt to) at my current job while doing the PSU program.
Pros
Already have built some connections in hospitals from current job, will make it easier for my internship
I can work at my job after my MSW with guaranteed supervision to get to my LCSW
Have a couple local friends
Cons
Paying for rent while going to school and working...sounds like a lot of debt uncertainty around field placement too. PSU would require me to work in a different area of the agency for my field placement and that could mean less pay while I still need to make same $$ for rent.
distance from family and commitment to at least 3 years of stay (until licensed)
weather is bad typically
2. Move to Oceanside, live with parents, go to SDSU
Pros
Free rent and food
Beach
Opportunity to get out of my niche
Cons
unfamiliar area- meeting new people can be hard at first
California cost of living
Unsure how difficult it would be to get internship at a clinic with high # of client hours in Southern California
cost- out of state tuition is $372 per unit, SDSU site says its $6,696 for 2 semesters. I'm confused as to if there's 9 units or more per term because there's 5 classes the first term.
While I must make the decision, I am hoping to get some feedback from others- have you heard good/bad things about either school? Cities? Cost of living?
Has anyone done PSU program while working full time? Can you be paid for your field placement?
For SDSU, how many units are in a term?
Accoeding to to my math, PSU and SDSU are adding up to be about to same cost- PSU is about 6k less for the 2 years but favoring in paying for my rent and bills, it evens out. I'm not sure if I'm doing the math correctly because it's surprising that in state tuition is close to out of state for SDSU.
Any input is appreciated, thank you!