25K for a bridge is nuts. The hospital paid for mine. My ADN was about ~4K or so after financial aide. Not familiar with your area but the magnet status stuff is of course ramping up everywhere for hospital work, but I worked as a CNA/PCT through school and was able to immediately transition into an RN role at my employer.

BSN is quicker and more expensive while the ADN is a little slower but much cheaper. ADN hinges more on your work experience and networking to open doors while a BSN with good school performance can potentially get you the position you want faster.

You can't work at all though? It won't kill to have a weekend or PRN job, particularly something like an CNA. Lots of places will also treat 1st year nursing students as having the proper certification in lieu of a CNA license. Bigger companies will also often help you pay for nursing school.

Too many students have a disdain for potentially taking a longterm care first job. You will learn more than you think, and it'll be great on a resume.