Fifty Plus (50+) - Seeking Frame Recommendations

One of my sons showed up at the house this last weekend with virtually everything needed for a fairly decent ride... except a frame. Apparently, a neighbor crashed a Giant OCR and destroyed the frame (He got t-boned by another rider). In any event my son bought the parts for $80 and is now looking for a frame to build up. He's a casual road rider that does three to four 10 to 20 mile rides per week in good weather. He's not interested in touring or racing. And here's the catch. He's a full time student who works part-time to pay his rent and expenses. Hence, he has almost no cash reserve. All the bike shops in the area are giving him quotes of $500+ dollars. Any of you have ideas of frames that might be worth investigating at a lower cost than this?

Pricepoint has a Sette frame for $99 to $119 depending on the current sale price. It seems to be a very nice budget aluminium road frame.

http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/17739-180_SETXM8-3-Parts-60-Frames/Sette-Ximo-Road-Frame-White.htm

GVH bikes has several nice frames at that price. Look at the site and click on "Frame Inventory"
http://www.gvhbikes.com/

I ride with a fellow who has a GVH Titanium frame, it's excellent at $550

I was looking into a warranty claim for my Cannondale, which was denied, and he LBS offered to sale me a Trek 1000 frame for $ 150. Not sure if that is the going rate or that he had a spare gathering dust in the shop.

Nashbar has some inexpensive frames.

He could also shop Craigslist for an older bike, strip it, put his parts on, sell the old parts...Some CL bikes go for the price of the frame.

What size frame does he need?

+1 Craigs List or a good thrift store. Should be able to find something in the $25 to $50 range, at least around here.