Something like AbeBooks, combined with an e-mail to the professor asking if an older edition is okay (provided they didn't help write the newest edition of the

Something like AbeBooks, combined with an e-mail to the professor asking if an older edition is okay (provided they didn't help write the newest edition of the book (-:) will usually suffice. First semester, I spent ~$600 on a book order at the campus bookstore that was essentially worthless. Second semester, I spent <$100 and got all my school books plus 5 or 6 extra computer and science books, and I finished this semester fine. If the system is screwing you, outsmart it. The only problem I've come across with this method is a) specific readings and exercises out of specific editions and b) activation crap that is required to do online homework (a bullshit tactic deserving of its own separate rant, but whatever). For a), make friends with people in your program. For b), you can often buy a separate activation code for whatever vendor they're using without buying the textbook, but they like to make you think otherwise. If you really know what you're doing, you can just not buy the book at all, or substitute it for a better, cheaper book. Example - I substituted the crap-tastic Rosen book on "Discrete Mathematics" for a better, $12 Dover Press book and was perfectly fine. That being said, stuff like this just keeps reminding me of the uncomfortable truth that our so-called "ivory towers" of academia are just as corrupt and run-down as the world around them. They are a business, no more, no less. Yeah, yeah, it's a big "no shit, Sherlock", but it still makes me feel queasy when I think about it.