Resp Therapy or RN

Hi I am taking my pre reqs for the nursing program still and with all the talk about programs are hard to get into and new grads are finding it hard to find jobs I was thinking about Respiratory Tech/Therapy. I need to work while getting a degree and my original plan was to do LPN and then bridge over, however, I want to long term do critical care and from what I am being told Respiratory Therapy is a good start into critical care,. What I need to know now is for one I dont see too many schools offerring the program I know Nassau , BMCC and I think Stony Brook even though that is four years - and LIU -

I do believe I can do it at Nassau for sure and even BMCC -however, with not so many programs is this also a hard program to get into and how is the job market for nyc and long island and what is the pay like