Fellow Californian,
I'm getting a house with my girlfriend. You can buy a 3 bedroom house there for under $100K (can't even buy a shack here in SoCal!). With a 10-15% downpayment and a fixed rate mortgage under 5%, it will be about $240/ month since I'm sharing with my girlfriend. Needless to say, this will be much cheaper than paying rent for an apartment or dorm. Plus, if all goes well, I should make my money back when I end up selling the place. Don't know about the car situation yet. I returned my last car a few months ago b/c my lease was up so maybe I'll look into something used when I get up there. First things first though. BTW, you can call Temple and ask them to send last years packet to you early if you want a head start. It has a lot of info on areas to live and tons of info on apartments. What are your plans?