Paying tuition is hard enough for many families these days, so the soaring costs of college text books just adds insult to injury!  Today we're going to show you five ways to save money on the cost of college text books.

The average full-time college student spends almost $1,000 a year on text books.  College text book costs tripled between 1986 and 2004! The situation is so bad that it even got Congress' attention. 

Legislation takes effect next year that will require publishers to release more information about their prices and require them to sell textbooks separately rather than packaged with workbooks or CDs that increase the cost.

Here are five simple ways you can beat the rising cost of college text books:

Text Book Money-Saver #1:  Buy your text books online at a discount.  You can find many college text books on major sites like Amazon.com or www.Half.com.  There are also dozens of sites that specialize in college books, such as www.campusbooks.com.

Text Book Money Saver #2:  Buy your text books off-campus.  In many college towns, you will find off-campus bookstores offer text books at a lower cost than the campus bookstore.

Text Book Money Saver #3:  Buy used text books rather than new.  Used text books sales are enjoying double-digit growth.  This simple step alone can save you up to 50%!

Text Book Money Saver #4:  Sell your used text books and use the money toward new ones.  You can always try to sell them yourself online (on eBay, Amazon, etc.) or on campus (flyers, in the newspaper, on billboards, etc.).   You can also swap them at the growing number of online swap sites such as www.campusbookswap.com. You sell them your used book and use the money or credits toward the books that you need.  www.collegeswapshop.com lets you compare buy back prices from several bookstores at once.

Text Book Money Save #5:  Rent your text books and save 50-60% on text books.  A host of new companies are popping up that let you rent your text books rather than buying them.  Check out www.chegg.com and www.campusbookrentals.com.