How safe is your college campus?
That's something to consider before plunking down the cash for a nice bike. For college campuses where bike theft is rampant, you might want to consider a $100 piece-of-crap Walmart bike to tide you over until graduation, then get yourself a nice bike as a graduation present to yourself.
Second day of classes during my freshman year, my roommate's $1000 bike lost its wheels and seatpost, because he was in a rush to get to class and didn't QR them to lock them up. My $100 POS Walmart bike on the other hand never got hit during my 4 years on campus even though I never bothered to QR the wheels to lock them up.