My health plan during my PhD was pretty affordable, but for spouses and dependents they basically said "go on the exchange/Medicaid, it'll be cheaper." The school claimed that during negotiations with the health insurance company they had been able to keep the single student plan's price down by letting them double the price of insurance for spouses and dependents (I'm pretty that was bullshit, my school was shitty to grad students in a lot of ways).
That being said, are you in a master's or PhD program? Are you funded or paying tuition? If you're funded, you're still making ~15-35k for a family of 3, and depending on your state you might be eligible for Medicaid. Unless you're in a grad student union (in which case talk to them, they'll know what your options are), your school probably insists you are a student, not an employee. I also recently learned that some University health insurance plans aren't actually ACA compliant, they are only catastrophic, in which case you'd probably be eligible for the exchange and subsidies.
There are "health insurance navigators" that can help you figure out your options in your state. I've been trying to deal with health insurance in two different states all summer, and while the wait times on the phone are hellish, the people I've talked to have all been very nice and very eager to help figure out what my options are.