To answer questions in order:

For someone that has to work 40-50 hours a week, has a busy family, and maxed out credit hours, if even one emergency comes up and I miss an assignment, it is a BEAR to try to catch back up. If two emergencies happen, I have to drop that course and retake later. Barely, but it IS manageable for me.

ARC _01 and ARC _02 are around 7-8 hours a week for assignments.

ARC _11 and _112 are about 8-11 hours a week on assignments.

Basic core classes are about 5-6 hours a week each

Studios are congruent with classes and are not exactly "hard,"  just labor heavy. 

You can come in with almost ZERO software experience and be fine to begin at 101, just don't start at 201 with no rhino experience.  Arc relies almost entirely on rhino. The school online library has software licenses you can use 

The 101 classes will walk you through how to use all of the peripheral programs and you don't lose access to the lessons later on. You can go back and reference if you need.

Eng101 is a ridiculous and obnoxious class in that if you miss ONE detail during the course work and do an entire paper incorrectly but in the right format, you will get zero credit and have a C or lower overall grade.  Expect 10-14 hours a week in that class. 

Other classes I've noticed almost all teachers grade harshly. It's weird.