Should we buy a home for a short period of time (possibly) or continue to rent?

We got married a month ago and had the misfortune of our apartment getting robbed while we were on our honeymoon. We live in downtown Buffalo, which is full of crime, so we're hoping to get out to the suburbs. The problem is rent is over $850 including utilities, and we do have a lot of savings, so we could easily buy a home - they are inexpensive around here and we could get a decent house for under $100K. The other problem is my husband will be applying for PhD programs for Fall 2009, and there is only 1 program he could commute to from where we live now. We're not sure if we should grit out teeth and throw away over $10,000 in rent for the next year, or if we should bite the bullet and buy a house. Any suggestions from people in real estate?