[DubaiSis]

There is definitely room for compromise here. You could take spring classes this year (and summer for that matter), which would help with future cost and cover some requirements. You could also do community college for 1 year then go to a 4 year university for your sophomore year and beyond. A transferring sophomore is more attractive during rush than a sophomore who didn't rush the year before. You could go to CC this spring, summer and next fall and move into the dorms at the second semester of your freshman year. Your mom might want to keep you at home as long as possible, but this might be a bit more palatable for her.

But back to scholarships and costs. Take the CLEP test! From my experience with homeschooled kids, they are a lot more advanced than people assume. The cost of that test is WAY less than the cost of a college class. And if you can have a few hours of college credit under your belt, you can take the minimum number of hours your first semester (or 2) to help you adapt without getting too overwhelmed or getting too far behind in your progress.

That's a suggestion I have for any incoming freshman, take the minimum number of classes and be easy on yourself. This is not the time to prove to anyone how smart you are. I took 5 of the hardest classes I would ever take in college all in the same semester, first semester of freshman year! Lunacy. Make sure one of your classes is a goofy elective that is more or less just for fun. For me it was voice lessons, but I got around to that my last semester (summer school) in college. My GPA would have been much different if I'd taken that instead of Poli Sci 4 years earlier (which it turned out I didn't even need to take because it's the 1 requirement I got covered through CLEP).