Scoobster
I've been there many times and I'm going to write you whathever info you need tomorrow.
But look first of all I wil suggest you to keep an eye on craiglist.org where you can scroll down and get your cheap and nice place where to stay!!
You can share a house with someone, you can rent nice room in any condo, plenty of choices there and cheap.
JAX is not too far, but still 30 minute or more driving during the day, roads are always with WIP and speed check!!!!
for cars check this site; comparecarrent.com and choose the location then you will have something like 2/3/4 agencies, check the best for you as cheap as you can and collect the car from JAX airport, no need to sign and pay for insurance but they will try at delivery to sell for you.
Last time my friend was there last year and he spent 300USD per month for an economic car.
feel free to ask me anything you need about school, routes, etc.