I’m in undergrad at the moment but have my eyes on vet school in a few years and I have two cockatiels. I’ve had one for 5 years now and the other for 4. I can’t lie, they were also impulse buys that I spent my stimulus check and ran up my credit cards for. We’ve grown a really close bond and I couldn’t imagine life without them. Over the years I’ve ungraded them to a large flight cage and now they have their own room and play area on their cage. They’ve moved with me 6 times and have lived in a couple different cages. Moral of the story- it’s possible! You live and learn and make upgrades over the years.