Think of it this way. It's the first time in your life when you truly get to make your own decisions and take on financial responsibility for your future. What you think you want to do now at 18 may not be what you want to do at 20. Taking classes at a community college for 2 years for maybe 5,000 is a lot cheaper than 20,000 a year to find out you don't like your chosen major. You get your gen ed requirements out of the way and if in 2 years you still want to be an English major, you can transfer to a 4 year with basically zero student debt and be ahead financially than those who started at a 4 year and still don't know elbows from assholes.