I hear ya. But my family couldn't even afford the plane ticket to send me away. But we made it work somehow. Scholarships, grants, loans and an award helped me go. I believe there's always a way if you want it bad enough.
:)
I was the first in my family to go to college.

Whether some of these are "down sides" remains subjective, but they are things to consider

1. Not getting away from home
2. Missing the social aspect of dorm living
3. Depending on your chosen major, delaying the start may put you at a disadvantage. e.g., for my major, had I come in as a Jr. with ONLY G.E. classes taken, it still would have taken nearly 4 years from that point because I still would have needed to complete the in-major courses in the order they were offered.
4. Occasional headaches when you find out stuff doesn't transfer.

Those would be my main concerns.

I totally agree with all your pros (except the husband/wife part, though I suppose anything could happen). The only con I've discovered with my major is that not very many Eng/writing classes are offered. Next year I'll have to do part time at the ASU so that I can start as a junior when I fully transfer.

Again, only speaking from personal experience, this was easily addressed with the department by being allowed to take classes concurrently that otherwise would have required to be sequential. I also had the unique experience of having industry experience coming into the department.
One thing I was VERY careful about was making sure that the classes I took at Fullerton College were transferable. I was even smart enough to get documented verification (from Cal Poly) on one questionable course.

And on the other two, I mostly agree, except I still lived in the dorm for a year when I went up there.

Like I said, depends on the major. My major had the highest unit requirement at my school. Some shuffling could have saved some time, but the reality was that there were just too many classes and not enough time. I got out of sequence in 1 quarter due to faulty advice from a counselor. The result was an extra full year to get my degree.

Hell, I came in as a sophomore thanks to AP credits, still took me 5 years because of the major's requirements.

Actually, since I work currently with people in higher education that is already the push. Many kids are being told to consider getting a Masters. The Bachelor degree is now the basic "minimum" for a good job. If you want to be a director, supervisor, manager, etc a Masters is becoming the norm.

That's another interesting question: how long did your "4-year degree" take to get? Mine was 4.75 years and that included Summer School three years.

I'm very glad you were able to. But there's a weird level of income where one is too wealthy to merit any financial aid, but one's public university tuition is a total drain on the parents' income. (I paid what I could, including the ONE loan I was eligible for, but it hardly made a dent on my University of Michigan tuition bill.)

But you know what? It had the best theater directing program in the country, so I was lucky it was in-state.

My experience was a little different. I started at Portland State University and soon learned that I could save money by taking some of the same courses I needed over at Mt. Hood College(a community college). My second year I found myself going to one school on M/W/F and the other on T/H.....it was kind of cool having access to the Universities library and research facilities for the community college coarses;)

Starting at a community college is good for some people, and not others. many community colleges are just "high school with ciggs". Same kids, same cliques, same drama. For some, going away helps. For others, they are able to go "look, no one gives a fvck you were prom queen last year". The queen bees start getting squished. But for some, it's easier to just go to another environment while that gets straightened out.