What's wrong with my car?

I drive a 2005 dodge stratus (sxt?) and just got it from my sister and brother in law just over a week ago. They took real good care of the car and just finished paying off the car in April. They had it fully checked in May before handing it over to me. The mechanic said that the car was good to go and gave it an oil change. The car has over 99000 miles on it. I was driving it home and hadn't noticed any problems with it. All of a sudden, while exiting of the ramp to go home, the car just came to a complete stop! The check engine light came on along with the oil light. I tried turning off the car and restarting it to no avail. I unfortunately had to have the car towed. My brother said it could have been one of three things wrong with the car: alternator, ignition coil or starter. Those things didn't sound too bad and the cost of fixing either three was in my budget. But this morning, I got a devastating call from the shop. The timing belt was worn and overdue for a change and had caused damaged to my pistons. Now with my pistons shot, my engine was shot. The mechanic then said my best bet was to get a new engine or at least a used engine to get my car running again. That's way out of my budget (he quoted me at $2000) and already replaced my timing belt and water pump (I think) without any consent. Is there something else that could have gone wrong? I'm a girl and I feel like I might be getting screwed just because I have no idea what the heck went wrong. PLEASE HELP!!!