[quote name='knightsdwn']If your professors aren't big sticklers for textbook editions, I would recommend purchasing previous ones (More likely an edition or two before the latest). They come dirt cheap and generally have the same information with some words or graphs missing from the newest ones which cost an arm and a leg more.
Of course this depends on what course you are taking.[/QUOTE]
Buying previous editions is absolutely the way to go. I only wish I had done it out earlier than my last two years at college.
Very rarely is a book completely overhauled with immense amounts of new material. In most cases, the chapters are either reordered, the homework problems have been scrambled, or one or two sections were added. Generally, this just means you're going to have to make at least one friend who bought the current edition and spend a few minutes at the end of class if the professor wants you to read up on a specific section to make sure your book has that section and/or to compare chapter homework problems to make sure you're doing the right ones.
People who don't know better might say, "I don't know, I don't want to miss anything or do the wrong homework...". First of all, you will not miss anything, these books seriously change at a glacial pace. Second, the two or three times (in six semesters, mind you) I did the "wrong" homework because the problems were ordered differently, the professor never gave me a zero or even took off points once I explained to him what happened.
So why is the way to go? Yeah, I probably should have elaborated on that earlier, but let me explain. I was a double major and all my classes were science/engineering, so my professors used the biggest and most damn expensive books you could imagine. Before I knew better, I could spend $375 - $450 a semester on USED [current version] textbooks, easily. I've had engineering textbooks that were only going to be used for one semester -- I'll say that again, used for
one semester -- that went for $195 new and $160 used. Once I started buying the previous edition of textbooks, I was getting books that my friends were paying over $150 used for at the book store for like $12. I didn't forget a zero, twelve bucks, seriously. Prices on previous editions drop like a rock, Half.com is your friend.
I spent $60 or less per semester on books my last two years at college (six full semesters, I took full course loads in the summer). Near the end, I started getting aggravated if I was spending more than $50 on textbooks for a semester. When you save all that money, you can come on here and find deals to blow it all on
.