I started at a community college (and wish I had transferred in the full 60 hours). I went to a private university with 1/4th paid tuition. The other half (~12.5k/yr) was in my pockets. I stayed for 2.5 years. I achieved 100 hours of my bioinformatics/data science degree. I dropped out and went full-time at one of my internships with 40k in debt. I can comfortably pay back the $550/mo (over 10 years) to cover the loans. In fact, 80% will be paid off in the first 2 years if I am careful.
To add, a lot of community colleges have agreements with local high schools to waive or reduce tuition for high school students taking classes before they graduate. This is a pretty good route if you are advising any young folks.
I transfered 25 credits in when I went to college, so it was an easy way to get rid of classes that would lecture bowl type stuff in a much smaller / interactive setting.
