I am currently looking at a few houses near a university or college with the likelihood of the tenants being college students.

Development costs help determine what I developer can pay you for a site.Additionally you need to know if water, sewer, power are easily available to the site and would you need to upgrade all the lines to larger ones to make it work. 4 acres away is a universe in commercial to another commercial corridor.

There are many CPAs on these threads who would be happy to work with you virtually. 

It seems to make sense to do the 30 year but I dont trust my judgment on this seeing as i have virtually no experience.

Since I work for a State University Medical Center, HR says they can only verify employment dates and salary which leaves me unable to provide the necessary documentation.

The person who contacted me was in his 20's and was using a .EDU address from a reputable state university. 

Carnegie Mellon University is one of the premier universities with one of the top global robotics university departments.

I've heard of mobile home university, but have been hesitant to make any purchases due to cost.

Unless you are a contractor or a "hands-on" type of investor who MUST do everything himself, then it really does not matter where you invest if  you do it virtually.

If you're going to college, assuming your university doesn't have a real estate program, finance/banking.Find a niche you're interested in, and learn everything about it.