Keep Renting or Own ? Local opinions?

well i guess it would be semi-local. Ive posted a few times in the investment area as i suppose this would be an investment. but heres the situation (first let me give you some basic info on myself to lead to my decision)

-Attending my last year of undergrad at Suny Albany
-20 years old
-Retail Store manger -Salaried mere 30k a year
-2 years Store Manager experience so far (hope this is going to help get into
grad school)

-No real debt (about $1500 )
only about 10k left on a car loan

So i was doing some figuring and see that im paying about 5k a year to rent my apartment (but i do have two more roommates we all pay the same). roughly $400 a month. I do have grad school when im done with undergrad and will probably attend a school within commuting distance of the Albany/Capital region. This will extend my stay in the area for a total of at least 3 years. Just on what i pay for rent thats going to cost me about $15k and i will be left with nothing to show for. However i have spoken with a realitor briefly and have come to find out i can afford a 50-60k mortgage (comes out to be about $300-375 a month not including property tax which i expect to be another $100-200 so on the max estimation $575-600ish) Of course i would be keeping a roommate throughout my time and they'd pay "rent" to me ( keep the same price i pay now $400 a month). So my figures are this:
$800 a month (x) 36months=$28,800 I could have about half of a mortgage paid off by the time im ready to leave. at that time if the market is good sell, or perhaps keep the property and rent it out, upstate home, or something.

Is it smart a smart decision, im not in the typical college student situation of asking parents for money, or being broke, I found a job work 45-50hrs a week attend school fulltime (do well btw) and i support myself and pay all my own bills (i try to keep from creating large debt and to stay living within my means). What do you guys think ? should i try to find a property and proceed ? would it be wise to proceed for investment sake or unwise (i know there are factors of resale and neighborhoods ect). Im at a fork in the road with what i'm thinking.

Thank you for taking the time to read over this long post.