College cost/tuition question - Help!?

Hey all - I'm a freshman at the University of Southern Maine, and plan on transferring somewhere out west, probably in Colorado area, within the next 1-2 years. My questions is - I'm going to be broke and doing most of this by myself. I'm trying to save up money and do well this year to prepare, but I'm wondering how to save myself the most money wherever I get into. The biggest question is how much cheaper is it going to be for me to live in apartment as opposed to the dorms? I'm just confused about what the tuition actually is I guess, and how much of it is room, board, and food and housing, and how much the actual cles are, because I want to have my own apartment. If I wanted to go to a halfway decent school, for example the UC at Boulder or University of Denver, how much would just the cles and education cost me, not including housing or food, etc, as I'd have my own place? Any help is greatly appreciated.