Running With Fireworks: B(u)y The Book

Yes, I own Chip and Dale as a set.

Books. Oh my God, books. Are expensive as hell. And why is it that they have to come out with new editions every other year?? It just means that you can't get them used anywhere, and then there's all these useless books floating around that no one will ever use again!

As you can tell, I allowed the bookstore to slap me across the face with their high fees yet again. I'm not really sure what to do anymore. I couldn't buy used because all of my professors are using new editions and coursepacks, and I couldn't buy online, because the professors take so long to post their book lists that you HAVE to buy from the bookstore so that you can do first assignments. It's SUCH a pain.

In fact, when I TRIED to buy books online, the orders got cancelled by the sellers the next day. And in the world of book buying, the online world gets more expensive EVERY DAY. So by the time I got to try again, the good deals were already gone! It's a huge pain.

All in all, I spent $347.00 today at the bookstore and another $143.00 online, for a horrific total of $490.00. Now, I did sell two books back for a solid $142, but that still leaves me with a net cost of $298. Which is not the most I've ever paid. The most I've ever paid was a year ago, when my cost was over $600. I cried for two hours after that, just thinking about all the fun I would have to skip.

So I would like to give suggestions for ways to fix this system:

MORE USED BOOKS! Sure, it wouldn't have helped me this time, but it sure would be nice if the bookstore would live up to their slogan of having the most used books. I walked through the law shelves. I counted two used books. Two. Total. I refuse to believe that's the most possible.
Professors should post titles earlier. Seriously, most professors know what they're going to be teaching at least two months before classes start. DePaul has a special section on their website for syllabuses and first class assignments. If professors would just post the titles of their books, that would give us all time to find better deals. No need to post the whole syllabus yet. Just titles, authors, and maybe ISBN number would be great.
Book swap/Pool. Why doesn't DePaul have some sort of book sign up list where you can list the books you have and the books you want and try to get them from someone else? Do any other schools have anything like this? Even just a few hours on a Saturday when people can get together to swap books or to buy books off one another would be helpful. Let's try to help each other out a little more.