I would say don't do it then. I am in college too, and I know how tight money is. My monitor just broke and I had to replace it, and I really hated having to fork that money over.
What is your major btw? I'm gonna be done with my second year as an ECE Major if a few weeks here.
Anybody know about the new Nvidia 560 ( non Ti version) GPU, where would it be rated in our list- it has 1280 GB and I think it was 320 bit memory for under $300. I think it is supposed to compete again the 6870.