My post wasn't advice. Just an example of a one man band kit and to start their ideas at something similar.
The kit I have I use at a professional level including TV companies, which in Europe (I'm from Ireland) are quite strict on what you're allowed to use.

To say you'll never have to upgrade from a t2i or t3i is a bit of a wild claim.

I personally would go with a Panasonic GH2 or GH3 depending on your budget. The Panasonic's have a much sharper picture than the Canon cameras.

The GH2/3 has a micro four thirds sensor while the Canon's have APS-C sensors. Despite what people say you do not need a speedbooster for the GH series to be workable. I don't know where this comes from. I have a GH4 which I use professionally and have never used a speedbooster with it. People will talk about shallow depth of field and how great it is and that's why you should get a Canon. Honestly, shallow DoF is way too overused and cheap looking. To give your films the 'film look' work on making the background look good, then over time add lighting to your arsenal. You don't see many big budget films with shallow depth of field everywhere so it's not really giving you a film look.
Shallow depth of field should really only be used for closeups, dramatic scenes or dreamy look sequences. And for aesthetics at night with city scapes or lights in the background.

I moved from a Canon 60d to the Panasonic GH series and the only regret I have is that I didn't do it earlier.

With a hack you can make the GH2 shoot with a really high bit rate. Also, the BBC in the UK still use the GH2 and they're really strict on which cameras you can use so it puts it somewhat in perspective.

I hope this helps. And good luck whichever camera you end up buying.

What price range are you in?

I'm a one man band videographer for the majority of my projects.

My kit includes:

Camera:
Panasonic GH4 with 14-42mm, 45-200mm Lumix lenses. Also an adapter for my Canon 50mm lens.

Lighting:
3x800watt redhead lighting kit on dimmer switches

Sound:
Rode Videomic Pro
Sennheiser ew100 g3 lav mics
Rode NTG-2 shotgun mic
Zoom H4n ADR

Something similar should do to start out.

Your phone can do a lot for you if you also have some cheap external recording capabilities.

Here's a video shot on an iPhone 5s or something like that with Filmic Pro. https://vimeo.com/116355291
It was aired on RTÉ TV here in Ireland and Philip Bromwell regularly shoots on his iPhone for special interest news reports.

If you're going to get a cheap camera buy a Panasonic GH2. It should get you great picture and last you the duration of college for all projects.