Thinking about community college path to a US university as an older student, what am I missing

Hi everyone. I know this sub is still really small and the activity is low, but that kind of makes it less scary to post so I hope someone will see this. I am 27 from Eastern Europe and just started seriously looking at studying in the US. My plan for now is community college for 2 years then transfer to a state university for a bachelors in something like business analytics or information systems. I am trying to figure out if this is actually realistic or if I am missing some huge problem that people do not mention in the glossy YouTube videos.

My main questions. For someone who is older and already has some work experience, does community college feel super out of place socially or is it fine if I am focused on classes and maybe one campus job. When I read about F1 rules, on campus work, full time credits and transfer GPAs my brain melts a bit. Is it true that if I do not hit a high GPA in the first year it will basically destroy my chances to transfer to any decent university later.

Another concern is money but I am not expecting miracles. I know international students pay a lot and I am not asking how to study for free. I just want to know if there are realistic scholarships or assistant jobs after transfer, or if most people in my situation are just taking loans or getting support from family. If you went this route or know someone who did, what do you wish you had known at the very start. Even one or two honest replies from this tiny sub would help a lot.