I agree with other posters- Just purchase a new set every 56 days and the price tag won't seem so bad. I was a Jepp. subscriber for one year, but I only paid $125 (that included postage). I thought it was awesome. However, somewhere in between the time I subscribed and the date the subscription came to an end I started working as a CFI. When the subscription came up for renewal, $125 was just waaay to much money to spend on anything in one go!
If your'e career aspirations are to become a pro. pilot, I'd strongly advise you to buy Jepp. and learn them well as soon as possible. NOS may be cheap, but no airline (well there are maybe one or two exceptions) uses them.
Jepp plates IMO are much easier to read. The NOS plates are just to, hmm, government looking for me!