I know its not the same, but have you considered becoming a nurse anesthetist? If you really think it will take you up to six years to get into and through AA school, this may be a better route for you. The pre-requisites for an accelerated nursing program are much easier than those for the AA program. It is also much less competitive to get into a CRNA program b/c there are so many schools.
Also, maybe you could live at home for the year or two you work as an RN. This way you could save a lot of money for graduate school (I also believe that many CRNA programs are less expensive than AA programs if you can get in-state tuition).