Wow,
That's a tough one Matt.

What would happen if you say you will work for them, but then in March you change your mind? Sure it's not the nicest thing to do, but what if you start working there and figure out you don't like it? Or you might be real happy and forget about even thinking about animation

Now, to make it harder How long is long term? Can you afford to go to school a couple more years? If money is no issue, go to school, find out which career suits you best and pick then. Or, take the job, learn animation with tutorials, training DVD's, books, on you're spare time, though it's hard when you work all day.

Another sad truth is a lot of people that go and get a degree in film/animation don't get jobs right away, if at all. There's no guarntee you'll get a job right away.

now, you ask, what I would do in this situation...

I would go for animation, since that's what I want to do.
If you like both, take the job, use the money you were going to use for school and buy all the equipment needed to learn on your own. And don't forget to buy points here at simplymaya.com to learn maya

I don't think I helped much did I ?
George