Freshers Survival Guide:

You will be given an exhaustive reading list. Do not go to the bookshop and buy everything – you won’t be able to afford it and you should be able to find most of them in the library.

Second-hand textbooks are often for sale for a fraction of the price – look on students’ union and departmental notice boards. If you’re lucky they could be on Amazon too.

Or you can try borrowing, or splitting the cost with others, or be inventive in your use of the library. It is possible (just) never to buy a book, but most students buy the essentials (eg if your tutor has written the definitive work).