SLR Camera, is there particular brand do you prefer?

There is no such thing as a best brand, no matter what anyone tells you. They each have some advantages over the other. Nikon and Canon owners will no doubt try to sway you to one brand or the other.

There is also no such thing as a beginner dSLR. The two thousand dollar one isn't harder to use than the 500 dollar one.

Next, no there are no 200 dollar ones, not even close. You are very young, and I understand money is tight, you have some options.

The big three are Canon, Nikon and Sony, but don't count out Pentax and Olympus.

If you want to get a dSLR it's craigslist.org or ebay. But before you do that, it would be a good idea to learn more about dSLRs in general and how the different brands bring different things to the table.

Used Canon and Nikon will be your best bet simply because there are so many used C & N bodies out there. Everyone loves to recommend the Nikon d40 but not me. I see too many people complaining because the entry level Nikon bodies don't autofocus certain lenses. Otherwise the cameras are fine.

Old Canon XT and XTi bodies are a dime a dozen. Save your pennies, you can get a body only, for around 200-275 bucks. If you are lucky, you might be a cheap lens thrown in. But again, save, you can get an ok lens for not a lot of money. Even the cheap stuff is better than anything you'll ever see on a cheap compact digital camera.

You can find the Sony A100 for cheap these days (2006 model) but I don't recommend it for one reason. I owned it, nice camera, but the images were too noisy in my opinion. The A200 is much better, 499 with a lens, but again, out of your range. But you never know, you could come across a A200 if someone needs the cash bad, you could get a deal.