What kind of college should I go to?

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Hi, I am a high school Junior who has been thinking about colleges for a while. I'm pretty sure that I would like to live at home and commute, but I don't know if I would want to go to a private or public school.

Schools I have been looking at.

Webster University-Top choice, a smaller private school with good film and business programs, but it's kind of expensive so I don't know if I could afford it.
University of Missouri-St. Louis-A lot cheaper and has good business programs. I'm worried it might be to big for me.
St. Charles Community College-Local 2yr school, I might choose this to save money and find out what I would really like to do.

What have your experiences been like with college? I have also considered going farther away from home to branch out but I am afraid.

I started at the community college near my parents home, so I wouldn't have to worry about roommates/food and the like. It is alot cheaper, smaller classes, but the professors either are good or not. There really isn't much of a middle ground. I had an awesome algebra prof and managed to pass it with a B while I could never finish an algebra book in highschool. But I have also had profs who knew their stuff, but they didn't know how to teach it to a class. Also, the classes are generally alot smaller, so there is more time to ask questions if needed.

I went to Webster! It's a really good school, and very accepting of all types of people. Webster is expensive, but it's great to have the small classes.
My favorite part was not having to take a bunch of useless classes that many schools require. I got to take 4 full years of art classes, along with 1 psychology class, 1 astronomy class, and 1 anthropology class.
(and I didn't have to take any math! i hate math.)

Webster was a 10 or 11 hour drive from home. It was great to set my own schedule for everything. I probably wouldn't have survived the stressful periods (exams, reviews, etc.) if I was living at home, and under my mom's schedule.
I only went home for Christmas and summertime. I shared a room the first year. My roommate and I mostly ignored each other. We were both quiet people, but didn't really have any of the same interests. The other three years I lived in the apartments on campus and had my own room. Three other people lived in the apartment, and we mostly got along.

Going away for college is great, but you do have to pay for food and rent, attempt to get along with roommates, and be prepared for random things like 3am fire alarms while its snowing outside.

I would say overall, my experience was really good at college. I made friends, met a great guy that I married after college, and got a B.F.A. in art.
Webster also has a study abroad program that was really great.

You should definitely apply to your first choice. Most people don't know, but the more expensive a school is, the more financial aid you will get from the government. Plus the school will probably offer some scholarships. When you go look at the school (you should go look, sit in on classes, etc) you can meet with a financial aid person and see if it's in your range. I'm at a really expensive school but with all my financial aid (not talking about loans) I'm paying a public university price.

Go look at the second one and sit in on classes just to compare.

I went to a junior/community college, and personally I don't recommend it. Most of the people going there are coming from the same high school district so it's like everyone knows everyone already and isn't looking for new friends. Plus when you switch from junior college to university, it's just another stressor on you (having to go through a change). The professors won't be as good at junior college, but classes will be smaller (maybe not smaller than the private college).

I went to junior college for a year and didn't like it all, didn't make a single friend. Now I'm several hours from home, at a private college and I love love love it. I love just about everything about it. I visited a bunch of times to be sure I liked it. I knew I liked it a lot, but I couldn't decide whether to go so far from home or not. You can PM me if you want to know about the school I go to, but I don't really want to write about it here.

Good luck, whatever you decide :]