My goals in the next few years would be to achieve financial freedom and I know that is possible with the house.

On the other extreme is lending from an individual lending only his own or family money.  

One last caveat....I'm in 50/50 with another individual.

this is my first time on Bigger Pockets, I'm looking to connect with other like minded individuals, and contribute to the community.

I use Joseph Andrews with New Penn Financial.

I would spend summers working at job sites so the construction aspect is not foreign to me.I am also a trained CFP, certified financial planner, so the numbers aspect is not confusing.I suppose the main challenge I have is actually buying a house.

Currently I am looking to gain more information/knowledge, network with other individuals, and would love to get involved in real estate.

Wade,first you have to make sure the town allows Student rentals, most College towns do, but you can rent it by the room as long as its 4 rooms or less usually, or a multi family house. ( 2 family you can have 8 rooms ). most Property Managers will try to rent to a group before renting rooms individually, easier for them.

Like Emily said, a number of shocking facts (or not so shocking to many landlords) have come out in the press recently on how few Americans can come up with a thousand or even four hundred dollar in an emergency....A FINRA study on The Financial Fragility of Renters was just one (with lots of stats).So no downpayment is a big one, as is credit score, and even with those who have resources, they  may want the flexibility to move or freedom from extra work or costs of maintaining and repairing the home.Even items like student loan debt or fear about the economy hold others back (still some out there who feel the sting of the housing bust).

I am a business owner from Grand Rapids, MI with ~100 employees, and I have read several Robert Kiyossaki books, (increase your financial IQ, Cash flow Quadrant, Loopholes of Real estate and a couple more)  I am just recently diving in head first on real estate investing.