This money is huge but a lot of people who are just beginning can save that initial dollars if they can get hold of the AdWords promotional code coupons or the promo codes. There are a couple of ways in which you can get the coupons.
If buy the hosting from a hosting company more often than not they will 25 or a 100 dollars credit towards the AdWords campaign. That helps to save the initial costs. Also there are a lot of forums and coupon code companies that usually give out the list of valid coupon codes. Also there are a lot of conferences that happen in the search engine optimization arena and for these the organizers will give out the coupons. This helps in both ways as you gain good amount of publicity because of attending the conferences as well as you can save the money because you have now got the coupons for your first AdWords campaign.
As a new person who is trying the hand at the AdWords it is always better to test the waters initially using the credit that you have. It can prove to of good help to learn the strategies and make some good money with AdWords later.
