It wasn't me being lucky... more to do with me choosing not to buy them

Certain classes were too book based for me to not, others the teacher sucked and the book really helped, and then there's all the mistakes I made - buying and not needing. However, renting has saved my life. They just have a card on file and then when I return the book before or by the "due" date no charges at all~

How about buying used? Or do you have some of those evil professors that insist that the latest edition has some crucial information that will be on the test?

I regret buying some of my textbooks this year. I tend to hold off to wait and see because sometimes professors are like "tbh it's just there for reference you don't have to have it." But then others are like ">8U YOU WILL NOT PASS WITHOUT THIS BOOK!" and still never use it.

Sometimes you can just borrow the textbooks from the library and continuously renew them if you get in early enough

If you've purchased a book, and at the end of the class it's in near perfect condition, many schools have a book buyback program. You might be able to recoup some of your expenses.