How would you feel if you dropped 500 dollars on textbooks in a week? Oh wait, that probably happened already.

Before you start worrying how to pay for your coffee and cigarettes, consider ways to cut back the loss and save money on books. For large lecture classes, it's sometimes not even necessary to do the reading; many students find themselves picking up their art history text only when dusting it off to sell it back to NJ Books for a tiny fraction of the price at the end of the semester.

When ordering books, you may find that the latest edition is almost full price, whereas earlier editions cost next to nothing. Newer editions often simply have a different cover and slightly different page numbers. Unless you professor indicates that the newest edition is imperative, get the earlier edition. If reading is unavoidable, but you're not required to bring books  to class, share with a friend and split the cost.

At Rutgers bookstores, you can return books for all your money back for the first week or two, so buy the book and order it cheap on amazon.com or abebooks.com, then return the book. If you're very devious, sell back the cheap book to NJ books at the end of the semester for a profit!

Save money! There are better places to spend it than on overpriced books.