To @NCalRent 's point about missing out on the residential student experience…
If you can afford to live away from home, you could consider the options of, for example, getting a spot in one of the private dorms in Isla Vista (where many UCSB students also live), enroll in the Honors program at SB City, take extra courses toward your major/minors in the summer at UCSB when enrollment is open, get your GE’s done, and transfer seamlessly to UCSB. Then you can be part of the student community and have more social continuity. Of course this doesn’t save as much money as living at home, but it’s still a lot cheaper than four years of UC. (Same can be accomplished in the vicinity of other UC’s as well, but I gave the SB example because Isla Vista probably offers the richest social blending of UC and CC students.) http://www.sbcc.edu/housing/Dorm_Stryle_Living.php Just fwiw…