Advice needed: Tuition reimbursement will still cost another 10k out of pocket

I just really need some advice so I can go to sleep tonight and still feel like everything is going to be ok. I will try to keep this as short as possible. (Question bolded at bottom after background info)

– Family extremely broke due to life circumstances and I occasionally need to help out. But I am VERY good with my money, budget meal prep, overpay on my loans to get them down and the rest goes into savings. (18k in savings)

– 100k+ in debt already (28k federal an 77 private) (family didn’t know what to do when I started school 5 years ago and went with private cuz it was the easiest. (my loans were originally for around 50,000 but my family was paying the $20 a month thinking it was the interest payment when it wasn’t so it grew VERY fast)

– Was on SAVE for the federal but will start making payments soon because it ended (payments want 140ish but I plan to pay 200 a month and then I need to pay around 1500 in built up interest still)

I refinanced the Sallie Mae with Earnest and am now paying 726 a month (will soon pay 1000 to try and pay it down faster) instead of the crazy amount SM wanted (1500). Earnest has a slightly better interest rate (still 9%) but I will refinance again this year hopefully to around 7% or lower.

Idk how im going to be able to survive with these sometimes, im supposed to be getting a car soon and moving away next year (I cannot stay at home for much longer)

QUESTION:

My new job offers tuition reimbursement, but even if I get the tuition reimbursement (to be a histo technician, I will still owe around 10,000 out-of-pocket. The reason I’m upset over having to do this is because there is a second route to becoming a Histo technician that doesn’t require going back to school if you already have a bachelors degree but everywhere I turn it doesn’t seem like that’s an option for me where I live even tho I WORK at labcorp. I asked shadow but the best they could do for me is to set up virtual meetings with somebody in Texas and I live in New York. So there is no way to even get hands on experience I guess.

I assume I’ll have to take out a bunch more loans to cover the cost of school before I get the reimbursement. Is there a way to maybe make sure they will be federal loans and not private? Can I request my new loan though the same website I pay for my fed loans? (I’m so unfamiliar with everything and I hope im not being too confusing)

How badly do you think the monthly payments willl go up? And do you think it’s even worth it?

With the new job I’d go from making 45k a year to probably around 70k.

Am I just worrying for nothing?

Thank you for any advice anyone has to offer, i appreciate it a lot and I hope my questions weren’t annoying or confusing to answer.