Honors Program? I enrolled in Honors (after deciding on UConn over Tufts, Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Rochester and Conn College - primarily to save $$ as an in-state student), proceeded to get D's in Calc and Chem 127, and dropped out. While my career might be slightly better off if I had stayed in the program, if I had stayed in it would have been because I was paying better attention to my grades and would have had a better record overall. So if you're the type of personality that can be motivated by that, by all means go for it, especially if there's a financial incentive.
If you wind up having to choose between UConn (or any other place) with an aid package and say, Michigan with none, I'd advise to ask some college grads who have a mountain of debt how they're dealing with it. There are cases where it may be worth it, for example if you get into an Ivy and your aspiration is to become a CEO or clerk for a Supreme Court justice, but a lot of the time it may not be. Just a decision you may have to make with your family. Having tens of thousands of dollars in debt is a major burden on someone starting out their life.
Regardless of where you wind up, I just want to echo the comments about finding groups/activities to spend your spare time. Invariably, that's where you make better friends. I did four years of symphony orchestra and two years in a biology service fraternity. Looking back, I wish I'd done the bio group earlier and maybe joined some other groups. Of course, I also wish I'd been more diligent with my grades freshman year!
