Thats why I love my school, well not really love, but a plus

. Being a small engineering school, everyone pretty much takes the same classes. So I just borrow books from friends. I've only had to buy maybe a book per semester since my first semester.
Oh, and if you look up your prof on ratemyprofessor.com, a lot of times people will let you know if you ACTUALLY ever need text books in that class.