Affordable, family friendly area/rental accessible to George Mason Arlington campus (Alexandria: apartment, house)

[grandladye]

I am relocating to VA to attend George Mason (Arlington campus) as a graduate student.
- I have two children (8 & 13), so I need good elementary and high school recommendations.
- I am a single parent with minimal income, so I will have to try to weigh out the cost of commuting vs. monthly rent vs. distance to kid's schools, etc.
- I need to try to qualify for VA resident tuition rates, but I'm not sure of the exact rules as it relates to living in the immediate area outside of VA (DC, MD) but I do know that I would have to reside in the area for at least a year.
- My target time for moving is late July to early August 2009.
- I'm open to suggestions in terms of renting a house vs. apartment, house sharing, or any that I may not have thought of.
- Arlington looks like it will be out of my price range (I don't really have one yet, but barring a miracle it will not be as high as $1,000/mo. for rent). What other areas should I consider? (Alexandria? smaller/larger town?)
- I am seeking a job with the university, so I would probably be commuting to one of the campuses regularly as opposed to only on school days/nights.

As an aside, I did try searching for this information, so please forgive me if it is listed somewhere already. Any help, suggestions, or support would be appreciated. This is a HUGE gamble for me and my family right now (I have lived in Cleveland for ever) but I'm committed to making the move for the possibilities.

Thanks!
Trying to add the "Grand" to my "Lady".

[LVMYDACH]

You need to post this in the Northern Virginia forum area, since the GMU (Arlington) campus is located in that area. This will help in getting more responses.