There are townhomes /apartments around NCSU that are around the 1k - 1.5k mark. Mostly students, but there are some families also living around that area.

Fact of the matter is that this is Raleigh, which is a city not a suburb. Drugs and crime in general is going to be higher than somewhere like Apex, Cary, Holly Springs which are primarily suburbs.

~1K doesn't give you a lot of places to work with but you should look at neighborhoods in Gorman St., Trailwood Dr., Kaplan Dr., Lineberry Dr., etc. This area has a lot of students (being close to campus) but that also means there's more stuff going on.

You could also try closer to Trinity Rd. but if I had guess those properties are probably more expensive to rent.

Realistically, you'll probably be spending 1.5K a month for rent + utilities at the cheapest.