I'm sorry about your mom.
It's very likely you will have to use the proceeds of the house sale and the $30K for school expenses. This is not a bad idea, especially if this helps you stay out of debt. If you would like to conserve some cash -- also not a bad idea -- you could take on some debt rather than deplete your cash. So long as it's a reasonable amount of debt, that would allow you to hold onto some of the cash and earn some interest on it to offset some of the interest you are paying on the debt.
Please find a range of colleges you'd like to attend (reaches, matches, safeties) rather than pinning all hopes and dreams on one college, and look for colleges at which you may be able to get merit money.
If you have specific questions about the financial aid available from a particular college, it's best to check that college's website/talk to one of their financial aid advisers for information.