I had a Ford Ranger that was an issued work truck. I drove that thing 253,000 miles in all sorts of conditions. It was 4x4 and I did off road trail surveys (erosion) so it saw 10's of thousands of miles of 4x4 use w/o a whimper. It got a few repairs along the way, but nothing out of the ordinary. It was more comfortable for me than most of the other trucks in the fleet. I'd always take it over Dodges, big Chevies, or even F150's.
Easy to park, good A/C - and since I had a small camper shell, I could sleep in the back if it needed to. Usually it carried tools and a ice cooler with my food for lunch when out on the trail. Often with enough food for the crews at mid-day. I think it was a really good unit and I know why they are so popular
A few years before that I was issued a Dodge D50 (Mitsubishi) 4x4 Turbo Diesel. That was an OK truck, but did not get the kind of mileage I was expecting and it was not all that comfortable either.
I've ridden in VW diesel pick-ups and even toyed with getting one. But they do not have enough load capacity, they're noisy and not all that comfortable. But they get great mileage
All in all, if I was the OP, I'd fly into Los Angeles and buy a nice used S-15 or Ford Ranger off Craigslist. Could get a really nice used one for $6,000 and have it serviced by an independent Ford shop. There are 100's in the LA area. Then drive it to Texas and enjoy school. you'd get to see some of So Cal and Arizona on the way and you'd have a nice truck at less than TX prices
You could get a small camper shell to keep your "stuff" dry in the south eastern rain storms between TX and Florida when you go back and forth ...