In order to graduate in 4 years, you’d need to take 15-16 credits per semester. Check with Molloy whether your scholarship would cover that.
Even if you live a short drive away, that’s not the point - the point is that, by living on campus at Molloy, you’d have the full college experience, you wouldn’t be like a grown high school student going back home - you"d learn the skills that living independently teaches people, you’d develop a new circle of friends, you’d be allowed to grow much more quickly than if you stay at home.
Obviously, many students commute, and if you’ve got no choice, it’s not so bad, but if you can live on campus, it makes a big difference.
ESF is a better school - one of the best in the Northeast for the program that interests you. However, it sounds too expensive for your family. You can apply for their merit scholarships (as a general rule, most grants and financial aid will come from the college itself, and the second biggest provider will be the government, with the federal loans and, if need be, Pell grants.) If ESF becomes affordable through their scholarships, then things will be different.
Keep in mind that you really have three choices:
- ESF with scholarships
- Molloy and dorming
- Molloy and commuting