The Champaign House apartments seemed nice initially, lots of grad students and families but that changed as we were living there. There were more and more cops visiting our neighbors (I don't know what for) and I was woken up on multiple occasions by loud neighbors. The office staff were nice but very disorganized and it was difficult to get anything done with them. It took over a week for our hot water heater to get replaced when it broke, we had issues with people parking in our assigned parking space and they did nothing about it, they never plowed the lots or sidewalks when it snowed and our car got stuck 5 times one winter because of that, etc. etc. I don't think the service you get is worth the rent and it's not a conducive environment to studying.
For looking for a living situation: you guys will get an official Facebook page set up via the school at some point and upperclassman will post living opportunists on there. It's also a good way to meet classmates to potentially live with.
For Winfield Village - their deposit is HUGE but it collects interest and as long as you don't wreck your apartment you get that money back. My husband and I had to put ~$8000 down but our rent is $560 for a two bedroom with a balcony and that includes gas. There's a fenced in "dog park" on the property, each apartment complex has a washer and dryer, the office staff are great and get things fixed pretty quickly, and they are very pet friendly.
