If you've got a student who's about to become a freshman in college, you're probably already suffering from sticker shock from tuition alone. Now throw in the price of books, averaging $500 to $900 a semester, and it can get pretty uncomfortable.

The price of textbooks is increasing at twice the rate of other college costs.  But many students have found the best way to save on textbooks is through technology.

Now a junior, when Marisa Kaffar started college, she says she made a typical freshman mistake.

"First I just followed the Augie rules and just bought from the book store. They gave us this whole green sheet: this is what you do; this is how you log onto Augie's web site," says Marisa Kaffar.

That cost Kaffar $500. But then she heard about buying textbooks online.

"I actually returned my books at the bookstore and ordered them online and it was a lot cheaper."

$150 cheaper. Kaffar uses the Internet site, Cheapesttextbooks.com to compare web sites that sell college textbooks.

"So I could go to Half.com and see their selection of the book, then I could go to Textbooks.com and see their selection and it also showed me Amazon.com, so I was able to see all those."

At first she was hesitant about buying online, fearing she'd get the wrong edition or a book in bad shape. But for the last three years, Kaffar's online shopping experience has been positive.

" My government book-- I bought this book for $43.99, including $3.99 shipping, so it was $40. If I would have bought it used at the bookstore it would have been $68.95 and new would have been $91.90."

By surfing online for the best price, Kaffer's often able to turn around and resell her books to the bookstore, sometimes even making a profit.

"To know I came out a little ahead in some books. It doesn't work with all of them."

That's because when new editions of the textbook come out, the old ones are obsolete. So saving money on the front end is more important than ever.

"Try the Internet first for buying your books. It saves a lot of money. College is expensive enough now anyway. Whatever you can do to save money and buying textbooks is a good way."

A couple other tips when it comes to saving on textbooks, try to buy directly from someone who's already taken the class.

And for novels or other non-fiction books required for a class, check to see if your library has them before you buy them.

Tomorrow night on Money Matters at ten, find out an easy way to start saving for college every time you go shopping.