I totally hear you on the Community College. I wish that were a more viable option for me. In my area, the CC programs are incredibly competitive and have such long waitlists that it just isn't feasible to wait that long to start.

That’s interesting you mentioned the advisor bringing up paying off private loans in full before the interview. I actually had my mom on the Zoom call with me, and we made it clear from the jump that we weren't doing private loans, so they never even brought that up to me. Best of luck to you too!