MSW or BSN to PMHNP?
I was under the impression that I was going to be starting my MSW in the fall but realized the program was too much of an undertaking (moving, 2 hours away from classes ect.) I was planning on starting my MSW in the fall of 2027. I have wanted to be an LCSW for years but honestly, I am truly concerned about the pay. I will have a lot of debt (not 6 figures but still) if I go into this degree.
I'm now looking to perhaps do an accelerated BSN program (15 months), work for a bit as an RN in psych, and then see about pursuing my PMHNP. I am a psych tech inpatient currently, so I feel as though I have a good amount of exposure to all of these fields. I feel as though my interests are more aligned with a career as an LCSW, as I am not as interested in med management (I am very interested in diagnosis, though), but I truly don't know if it's worth going another 30k into debt for something that would make me significantly less money. I interact with PMHNPs and RNs at my current job and enjoy seeing them and what they do, but I fear that I am just not massively excited by the more scientific aspect of a PMHNP as opposed to the social aspect of an LCSW.
The state I am in does not have particularly good pay for LCSWs (avg 50k-70k/yr), whereas a PMHNP is quite literally double that (100k-120k). The whole timeline for my BSN+PMHNP would be around 4 more years of school. Whereas an MSW would only be 2 (plus 2 years of supervision for licensure)
Any advice in one direction or the other would be extremely helpful - or even just more information.