College expenses/experiences in Europe?

It depends on the University you are going to, but there are many that are comparable. If you have an exchange programme there should be people that can tell you about the facilities available at the university you are going to. I've never heard of Universities having their own currencies or police, but the rest of what you mentioned seems pretty standard. At the older universities you will probably find that the campuses are not as compact and will be more spread out across a larger area. This is because they have grown slowly over time and were not planned out as a newer University might be. I would definitely try out the exchange program...there is nothing like seeing it for yourself.