My biggest questions, after reading the information on this page (thanks everyone!), are for my partner rather than myself. She's a current government employee and there are no job guarantees w/r/t placement. She has a particular skillset and would definitely not be able to work remotely. She definitely requires the external structure of a job to be happy, so it's a big deal for her.

In addition, we'd have to get married. We are cool with that, but the greater problem is economic. We have about the same amount of student loans, but if my salary is effectively halved that would definitely be a hardship for us in the future.