The most important thing for me is, I don't like working for a living (It's so limiting). The faster I can reach a point of FI, the more happy I will be. If anyone has recommendations or links to how to do this in college, I would be appreciative.
Glad to hear you've got the CC-good school transition figured out. In that case it might give you an advantage, see below:
In terms of getting closer to FI while in college, here are some thoughts:
1. Summer internships ASAP. There are some that are designed to help students from non-research institutions, and I believe a CC would qualify. Definitely look into the ones at universities; you can get free room and board plus a stipend (3.5k to 5k in my field usually) for working the entire summer. They're typically harder for people just finishing freshman year to get, but you might find some that are specifically targeted for that population as well. Deadlines are at the latest mid-March so if you're currently in your 2nd semester, you should hop on the applying ;)
2. On campus student employment. My university (and the CC I started at) have a searchable site where you can put in really simple job applications for stuff like admin work, or food services, or residential life. There are sometimes positions in academic departments, either administrative or even research related. Obviously you'd want to target the ones in departments of interest to you as top priority, but all student labor jobs are pretty cushy. The best part about these jobs is that they are basically required to be flexible around your class schedule -- it's pretty hard to find an off-campus part time job that's as understanding about things like needing to take a week off for finals or whatever. And at my administrative/receptionist type jobs, I literally get paid to do homework and sit at an academic department's desk just in case someone comes in the office looking for help. I think I do actual work about 30% of the time at one job, and maybe 50% of the time at the other job. And I'm not being lazy, I actually seek out extra work much more than my other student worker colleagues.
3. You seem like you've got your shit together so this is probably unnecessary but you'd be surprised...Apply for federal/institutional aid with FAFSA, regardless of your income or your parents' income; you never know what you're eligible for and a lot of people who think they won't qualify just don't apply and end up screwing themselves. FAFSA will get you access to federal grants, state grants and scholarships, and many institutional grants and scholarships, not to mention work study (which makes it much more likely that you'll be hired by an academic department for researchy type stuff, btw -- they love not having to pay you out of their own grants, lol), and federal student loans --subsidized loans don't accrue interest while you're in school -- it sucks to have loans at all, but if you have to get them, these are the way to go. If you pay them off 1 day before your deferral period is up, you pay the same $ amount that you took out first semester freshman year.
4. Buy used textbooks online -- compare prices at various places; wait until the first day or even week of class to buy, just in case they're not really required.
5. Apply for other scholarships through your school/department. I got a $1500 scholarship to the CC just for writing a one page essay about some random thing (it was years ago, can't remember exactly lol). Anything that goes above your bill amount can be saved for next semester in your school account or disbursed to you as a lump sum at the beginning of the semester.
6. Don't get sucked into the eating out everywhere/going out to the bar 5 nights a week. It's hell on your finances and hell on your body and hell on your grades.
That's basically all the financial stuff I wish someone had told me my first day of college :D
Edit: I have no idea if this is legit but this website emailed everyone at my school at the beginning of the semester -- gradebuddy.com. It's basically a notes sharing site for people in the same classes, but you get paid by the page if you upload your class notes and make study guides or whatever. I don't do it because I hand write my notes, and they want them typed, but they claimed you could make $500 per class in a semester. So if you type your stuff already, I don't see how you could go wrong there. Unless of course it's not legit but do your own due diligence, cause I only got as far as the typed notes part before I decided it was way too much work for me to convert everything and stopped looking into it.