God forbid a couple of 17 year olds go out to a late night matinee.

I'm a French speaking Canadian who immigrated here, for what it's worth.

I didn't come through the education track, but one thing I do know is that you have to prove to USCIS that you have sufficient financial resources to fund your education and live. Scholarships in the US are, generally speaking, limited to citizens and permanent residents.

People on F visas (education) can generally get employment authorization, but it's very limited in terms of where you can work, and how many hours. Once you finish, you can get OPT for one to two years. This can give you time to get another visa and potentially get on the path to a green card.

In terms of safety, I'm safer here than the reservations I used to live on and around. Don't come thinking you're going to be randomly shot or something, non American media really plays up that sort of thing.

America as a whole is less expensive than Europe.

If I could live in any other state, it would probably be Louisiana or Oklahoma.

One thing you should prepare for is the fact that literally no one here speaks French, and listening to locals butcher obviously French names (looking at you, Versailles) is going to have you cringing pretty much constantly.