I would finish up the first 2 years of college at a 2 year school, then move on to a university.  Also, going to a 2 year vs a 4 year is a large tuition difference.  So you may be able to afford a lot more than you thought.

ex. My school is roughtly $1500/qtr, and a 2 year was nearly half of that.  

As a student, I didn't do very well in my first years of college.  I was going to a 4 year univ, but I did very poorly(due to bad study habits), so I went to a 2 year, and I still didn't do really great.  Then nearing the end of my 2 year program, I started doing well, like C. GPA's of 3.7-3.9.  This brought up my TERRIBLE gpa from like a 2.4 to a 3.0.  And now that I'm in a 4 year, and I'm keeping my good study habits, my GPA for the last 100 credits is a 3.80.  It's no 4.0 but, you can definately change things.

My cumm of all the colleges I went to isn't great, but a lot of times what counts is your last 90 credits, or they definately look at improvement.  Life is always about superb grades throughout, though it helps. ;]

Just some words of encourgement from someone's who's been in your position.

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I've got spurs that jingle jangle jingle.
As I go riding merrily along.
And they sing, "Oh, ain't you glad you're single?"
And that song ain't so very far from wrong.