I’m also wondering about your twin’s plans. It has seemed to me, throughout this thread, that they were more set on Carleton than you. Are your parents more open to it for one of you vs the other, for some reason?
At this point, you can get by at Carleton without any parental contribution or loan-cosigning, if necessary. I understand that you don’t want to defy your parents, but at least you don’t need their financial backing to make this happen. I really hope both you and your twin can go to Carleton; it seems like you are ready to launch, and the school has been so supportive as far as improving your aid package, etc. I think it would be a shame to pass up this opportunity. CPP can offer you a good education, but it would come with a host of struggles - financial, logistical, and familial - all of which would be solved by going to Carleton.
I hope you and your twin can join forces to make this happen!
Can you reach out to a Carleton Chaplain (of whatever denomination) and get the name and contact information for a religious leader of your parent’s faith for them to talk to? Name and email of the Chaplains should be on the website- or there may be an “office of religious life” under student affairs/campus life.
College Chaplains are remarkably well wired into the local community. Half an hour with someone local may reassure your parents that their fears are unfounded. I’ve seen Muslim parents (for example) do an entire 180 degree shift after talking to an Iman- either a campus employee or in the local community- who can assure the parents that many students practice their faith while on campus. Ditto for LDS.
Weather change is usually fine with proper clothing. Lots of CA kids adjust—I’m sure you can too.
Here’s a link to the religious groups and chaplains on campus. If your religion is among them, you could commit to attending services regularly if that might help. You can also very likely reach out to the appropriate chaplain this week to ask them for guidance about the transition . It is even possible (I don’t know for sure) that they might be willing to talk to your parents and provide some reassurance.
Maybe it would help to offer to video chat with them once a week if you do get to go to Carlton? And / or send them an informative text on a regular basis?
A lot of families find that kids who visit home so frequently have more difficulty adjusting to college and can miss out on study groups etc that happen over the weekend . hopefully your parents will become more comfortable with things as time goes on and they see that both of you are doing well (as I hope you both do!)
Wow, what a fantastic turn of events!! You should be so proud to persevere through a really hard set of circumstances. I really am hoping you have a fabulous four years, you truly deserve them!
I am so happy you and your twin are both going to Carleton. Congratulations for persevering and calculating and taking everything into account despite so much pressure.
This is truly a new life that begins for you.
Congratulations
I know it was a VERY long road to get to this point – congratulations again!
Just in case you haven’t seen it, here is a link to Carlton’s academic calendar. You can see that New Student Week begins on September 9, and there are likely low cost fares to Minnesota around that time (when I checked on kayak.com, I saw one-way tickets for under $100). Academic Calendar – Carleton College
If your parents are planning to go to Carlton to drop you and your twin off, make sure they know that parents usually only stay the first day for drop-off and not the entire week. (I have known of other families who didn’t understand that and took time off from work etc for the entire week). Of course, check with Carlton to confirm, but that is almost always the situation.
Congratulations for persevering and calculating and taking everything into account despite so much pressure. 
