Grad school options for Psychology (PLEASE HELP!)

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Hi everyone,

So I wanted to ask your thoughts about counseling psychology and if it's worthwhile to pursue. I do live in NYC. I was accepted into St. John's School Psychology PsyD program. Many have told me that it is a great program and I'm highly considering it. The only way to get funding is through a graduate assistantship, which can potentially cover all of your tuition. The tuition without any assistance would be about $160,000 for 5 years. Although my interests did fit since I want to work with adolescents and young adults and even children sometimes, I've heard that working in a school environment isn't very good. The school system isn't very good even if you do get the same breaks as students and holidays as well as summers off. You do a lot of report writing, meetings, and testing. I find testing interesting but I've heard that working with administration and teachers can be frustrating. One of my professors even said that there is a stigma on how qualified school psychologists are depending on where they want to work. I'm not sure how true any of this really is so I wanted to ask someone's opinion on this. You can work in a hospital or private practice but do you earn the same salary and are you valued the same?

On the other hand, I was accepted into Fordhams Mental Health Counseling program, which gives me a scholarship amount of $4000-$5000 if I take 12-15 credits. I can also cover at least $5000 every semester through a graduate assistantship which would be about 6 hours every week. The tuition is $97,800 for 2 years, which is quite a lot. If I complete the program, I can have all of the credits transferred to Fordham's Counseling Psychology PhD program. Of course I'd have to be admitted into the program first, but I'd be an advanced standing student. That program is 6 years but I can shave off 2 years likely and study for only 4 years. For the PhD program you get tuition remission for 4 courses every year only if you do a graduate assistantship which would be 13 hours a week. So would that mean I'd be working part-time, would that be too much? Counseling psychology seems interesting to me and it's not that different from clinical psychology, which was my ultimate goal. Does this sound reasonable or is clinical psychology better or any other different program I mentioned? Is the earning potential different than a school or clinical psychologist?

My third choice was Hunter's MSW program in social work. It's a well-known program in NYC and it's cheap because it's a CUNY with a tuition of about $30,000 for 2 years. I chose the clinical track which emphasizes mental health a bit more. Social work is very broad and you can still do mental health, which seemed appealing to me. It does emphasize social justice and social policy which I can learn. You can sit for the LMSW exam after graduating and after 3 years of supervised experience you can become an LCSW. Plus, you'll be earning money during those 3 years of supervised clinical experience. Which in total would be 5 years, which is about the same length as the School Psychology PsyD program. I did hear from a professor that social workers burnout, but I think that all depends on where you work. Are LCSW's just as qualified as a Counseling Psychologist, can they do the same things? Is it worth it to pursue the doctorate for more potential opportunities. 

Please help because I need to make a decision soon and I would love to get some insight from anyone familiar with these programs. Thank you all!