A have a big decision to make and I am struggling. I’m am going to go to school for Art Education and Theater. I planed to go to Indiana University South Bend because its close but not too close, affordable, and also my closet friends are rooming with me. I have disabilities financially and mentally. IUSB has me current enrolled as going almost debt free. And they also are willing to help me with mental issues and have help outside of classes and also extended time for testing. The college life there does not seem like much and also their art and theater programs not much of big thing there. Goshen is my dream college except for the fact its in my home town. The people there are free spirits like me, close to alot of friends, and also there music, art, and theater department is amazing. I had ruled Goshen out because its financially unrealistic and what im going for im not going to get a lot of money to pay off loans. In the mail yesterday I got a finical aid package from Goshen that between loans and the lot of grants and scholarships im getting they have me covered. I would though however have like 10,000 dollars a year in loans so that’s 40,000 dollars in debt. This calculations have me living at home…which was most of my motivation to go to college, to get out of the house. Its my dream college but it has me living at home and has me in debt, I was thinking maybe transferring but then Goshen would be looking at my IUSB transcript which i can bet would not be even close to as impressive as my high school one. I am very lazy academically, B C student, and iv gotten away with not studying and taking average classes in which i gave very little effort. This is why i think college will be an issue. I don’t know what I should pick. Is 40,000 dollars in debt worth living at home but with the quality of a private college? Or should I go realistic and go to a public university and live on campus with friends. If you have questions that could help you give me your impute just ask 
Go to Indiana University South Bend.
It sounds like they “got” you and you’ll be living the life you wanted as a college student, attending a college of equal academic quality as Goshen, and, best of all, will be debt free when you graduate!
Go to IUSB. MYOS1634 is right. You want to avoid $40k in debt. And the experience of living away from home will be an important part of your education even if the campus life isn’t especially exciting.
Lastly, does the Goshen financial aid package require you to maintain a certain GPA? If it does, that would kill the deal instantly because, as you yourself acknowledge, your academic track record is weak. Imagine being $20k in debt and unable to get your scholarship renewed due to academic performance.
It requires me to keep a 2.5 so its not that bad. I understand what you guys are saying. I just want to have a good experience in college, and IUSB is cheaper and in South Bend which is dodgy and In college review sites I see a lot of bad review on the school. My parents feel safer having me at a Christan liberal arts college. And I dont want to miss the opportunity of Goshen…grr, i cant have it all.
Look at it this way: go to IUSB for two years, do great work, and Spring sophomore year, if you still want to transfer, try to transfer to Goshen or perhaps even IU-B or Earlham! Since you went basically for free at IUSB, you would have saved enough to do either one.
College review sites should be read with a grain of salt: The people who write in are generally either very happy or very unhappy with their choices. It’s not a balanced picture. Visit the campus for yourself, sit in on some classes, talk to students there, read the student newspaper, look at the bulletin boards, look at the course offerings in the area your are interested in, check the graduation requirements, eat in the cafeteria(s) and then make up your mind.
Bottom line is that strangers without an intimate knowledge of you, your family, their values, your financial situation, your career goals, etc… can only raise issues for you to consider and make a recommendation based on the info provided. It’s not necessarily the best answer because we don’t have all the pieces. For example, without knowing your exact mental health situation, it’s impossible to know if going away from home would reduce or increase your risks. (I’m not asking for that info - just pointing out that this may be a very important factor in the decision.) And you are correct that in some situations, you have to make the trade-offs because there’s no obvious right answer.