Michelle Slatalla has a piece on saving money when buying college textbooks
link here. She recognizes their high cost for college students ($700-1000 per year) and suggests going to the internet. She notes that there are lots of sites but up to now, there has been no single way to find the best deal. That has changed with the creation of Bookfind.com that checks most suppliers. She also suggests getting an early start as the market in used books has gotten more competitive.
All this is good advice so long as texts are so expensive, but small potatoes when the alternative is considered. Students and parents need to start putting pressure on schools to put the texts on the web, as David so strongly advocates. That is the solution that makes texts cheap and easy to update at the will of the author and in response to evolving definitions of generally accepted truth/wisdom.