Its not as bad as all that, especially the weather although it only really has two seasons: summer where you sweat to death and winter where you have constant slush in your shoes and ice on the sidewalks. My father was pretty hesitant about NYC too, but you have a few years to wear them down
Good grades can do wonders for the costs (the college covers my tuition so I only pay for my housing and bills), you never know, it actually might be cheaper.