Text books are expensive. Computers are expensive. In fact, most things are expensive. Look for secondhand text books from the campus store, student forums or even Craigslist or Kijiji. When it comes to electronics, consider going refurbished for your computer. After all, you're going to put a lot of mileage on it and it might even get damaged so don't buy a top of the line machine if you can't afford it.

If you do buy a new machine, take care of it. Nothing is worse than it getting damaged just before a paper is due.