Hi Stacie,
I was in Minneapolis twice last year (I am from England) and will be going back there at the end of August!
My good friend lives out there so I didn't have to fork out any $ for hotels....but I will email her later and ask if she knows anywhere for you to stay that doesn't cost too much.....
A great place to go (which is free!) is the Mineapolis Institute of Arts.....it has 3 floors of arts & culture so if you are into all of that, you could easily spend a whole day in that place!
Uptown is a great place to go...it has a vibe about it and has some great CD shops, bars and retro clothes shops too......you also have the Mall of America to go explore.....I think it helped having my friend acting as my tourist guide as I would not have had a clue where anything was.....
Hope that was of some help!