[Maine Mariner]

Many economics and accounting textbooks sell for $250 at the very least. My solution: tell students to buy from Amazon-plenty of used books there. Also, college bookstores are now renting out textbooks by the semester or year.

It has changed now with the internet, but many popular textbooks had international editions. Same as the US edition but usually in paperback and half the price of the US edition. However, college bookstores refused to sell the international editions.

A couple years ago, I taught a managerial accounting course.
The new edition was $250.00. The previous edition on Amazon was $30.00. I told my students to purchase the older edition. The students were not accounting majors and the older edition, 2012 textbook was just perfect for them.

[FredZarguna]

I got an "international" copy of Functional Analysis by Rudin for $10.00. US cost $165.00. The front and back covers were Chinese. Every word inside [and of course, all the mathematics] were in English.

[boxlunch]

We rent most of our books, now, it’s the cheapest option. It is still VERY expensive though - usually $70 to RENT for one semester. What a racket.