Should I have gone away to college?

All summer I've been reading posts on Facebook about people going away to college.  "Only this many days til I leave tracy!!!" Stuff like that.  For some reason it wasn't really bothering me all that much.  But now I'm seeing, "Good bye Tracy!!! Hello (enter new town name her)!!!" or "Packing to leave for..."  This is very depressing.  Going away to college has been my dream since seventh grade when I really started to think about college.  And I remember thinking back then that if I wanted to go away to college I had to do really well in school, so I worked really hard.  But then during my freshman year it became apparent that my dream wasn't going to come true.  My parents were telling me that the best decision would be to go to a community college.  So, of course, my teenege brain though, hey, if I'm going to go to a lousy community college, I don't have to do as well in school since they will except me no matter what.  And I didn't do that will in high school.  I no longer cared.  Now I wish I hadn't listened to my parents and continued on with my dream.  I could have gotten really good scholarships or something.  I think I was afraid they wouldn't help me pay for everything.  But since they aren't helping me anyway I could have left with no fear.  But now that I am paying for all my college by myself I realize that I wouldn't have been able to afford to go away.  I might not even be able to afford it now.  I might get my A.A. and have to stop.  Stuck as a manager of McDonald's forever.  But I am determined not to let that happen.  When I get my A.A. after working my butt off this next year and a half to two years, I WILL move away.  Even if it means I have to put the rest of my education on hold for a year or two, I will not let myself get stuck in San Joaquin County.  It's just not going to happen.  When I am done at Delta, I will move to Anaheim to work at Disneyland and work until I have enought money to go back to school or work my way up without having to do that.  All I know is that this little mistake of mine to stay at home and go to Delta College won't stop me from moving away and living my dream.  Because all I want is to be independent and to be happy.