I used to be an English teacher at what Penthouse forum would call "a major mid-Atlantic university." One of the things about teaching English is that it's impossible to escape the high cost of books. Unlike PE teachers, art professors, or the guys who teach underwater basket weaving, English instructors have to assign texts, which means that our students end up having to lay out a lot of dough.

I fought against this by carefully choosing my books. Whenever I assigned a text, I would look at all the available editions and consider the benefits versus the costs of each one. I often used xeroxed copies of stories or placed reserve copies in the library to reduce my students' textbook burden, and prided myself on the relatively cheap cost of supplies for my classes.

One year, attempting to standardize its introductory classes, my department developed an in-house textbook. Initially, using the book was a voluntary choice, but over the years, the department textbook became required for every freshman English class. For a while, this wasn't too much of a problem; the textbook was pretty decent, and I can honestly say that it helped my students. In my final year, however, the department came out with a completely worthless edition of the damned thing. It cost $90, and I was required to assign it in my classes. In my last semester, I decided against using it, which earned me some stink-eye from a few colleagues, but little else. On the other hand, I had already announced my decision to leave teaching.

With textbook prices rising about twice as fast as inflation for year, and a lot of students and their parents are having trouble keeping up. Some have even suggested legislative solutions, and organizations like this one have popped up to protest rising prices.

Financially savvy students have an alternative in Chegg.com which allows you to rent your textbooks for the semester.

Clinically Oriented Anatomy will set you back $71.16 on Amazon.com -- but you can have it for a whole semester for $29.93 plus $6.99 for shipping on Chegg. Return shipping is included in the rental price.

I know: For some classes you may want to keep your textbook. But probably not for general education requirements. If you're an art history major, do you really want to spend twice as much money to have your very own copy of an anatomy book?

College is expensive -- there's no getting around that. But there are a lot of ways that creative students can save some money, and we'll try to bring ways to do that to your attention here on WalletPop.

Photo spcummings.