You may know how you're going to pay your tuition, but you're not out of the woods yet! According to The College Board, students spend an average of $1,000 a year on books and supplies, making this a huge expense! Could e-textbooks and rentals cut down on some of this?

E-textbooks can generally be accessed online or downloaded to laptops, so there's no need to buy anything like the Amazon Kindle or Sony Digital readers. Since the majority of students have their own computer or easy access to one, this seems to be a more affordable option.

One popular place to get e-textbooks is CourseSmart.com, which works with 12 of the largest higher-education publishers to offer about 7,000 titles. The company says its e-textbooks on average cost about half the price of new print copies.

One perk of CourseSmart is that texts are searchable by key words or phrases. Students can also copy and paste up to one page to create notes and print up to 10 pages at a time. Another function lets students highlight passages as they do with print textbooks.

Cengage Learning makes its titles available electronically at iChapters.com for half the price of print editions.

One catch with CourseSmart and iChapters is that students only have access for a certain time, usually around a semester or however long the book is intended to be used. So, students won't be able to refer electronically to certain passages later on.

Another huge drawback to electronic textbooks is portability. Unless you have a light laptop, you probably won't want to drag your computer to classes all day.

If you prefer a textbook you can hold, why not try renting?

Textbooks are typically leased for a semester or longer, and costs vary depending on factors including the book's popularity.

Chegg.com is an extremely popular site and says its rentals can save students 65%–85% of the cost of buying books new. The company tries to track down any requested book that isn't already in its catalog of 1.6 million titles. And, while students do pay to have books shipped to them, the orders come with prepaid envelopes to make returning books easy.

BookRenter.com, which generally works the same way, sends students e-mail or text message alerts when due dates are approaching. It also gives students the option to buy a book at the end of the rental period. Any rental prices already paid are deducted from the purchase price.

Cons for renting are that you don't get to keep your textbook (unless you can buy it) and that it needs to be kept in good condition — no highlighting for you! Those are two things you can't ignore but not necessarily deal breakers. The one math class you're required to take freshman year when you're a music major? You probably won't need to highlight passages or keep the book for future reference.

Whether you prefer renting or buying a digital version, both options can save you money! Do you have any unique or surprising tips on saving money on school supplies?