Space certainly is at a premium at college, as is time. Your only issue will be that the tiny planes can't tolerate wind. If smoke won't rise straight up, you will probably have trouble as a beginner.

On the durability topic, I'm going to honestly say that you're thinking backwards. A plane can fly well or crash well, but not both. You plan for good flights, and if you don't feel confident in that you don't take off. That said, I don't have any experience with the Champ but I know the Super Cub can take a beating.

As for transitioning, adding the 4th channel gives you something else to think about and a way to get yourself into tougher positions to get out of, but the mechanics of flight are the same. It's a well traveled path to start with a 3 channel dihedral plane and move to a 4 channel flat wing plane, so you should do fine. What I'd worry about more is you trying to fly a model that isn't set up right or is out of trim. For help there, you'll need an experienced pilot to do your first flight for you so that you can start with a properly flying plane. A single one hour lesson with an experienced pilot will likely save you 5 hours of wasted flying time and repairs, not to mention money spent and accelerated wear on your plane caused by bad takeoffs and landings. Contact the clubs in your area and see if an instructor will meet with you for a tweak and tune session.