I went to a C.C. for one year, transferred to Rutgers, a State School. State schools are your best bet. My fiance just finished teaching at a local C.C. I can tell you that the workload and quality is not the same. But like many other things, it comes down to the students and whether they truly want to learn. If you put in your own time and read, you'll do just fine. It comes down to individual effort.
Many professors that are brilliant and teaching at 4 year schools have no people skills at all. They are lousy teachers. Brilliant at analyzing data and researching, but teaching is an art requires more. My debt from school is minimal. I have friends that have $40k-$90k in undergraduate school loans and just received a 4 year degree. Unless it has a name like Harvard or Princeton, you're wasting your money IMO.