If I were going to fit-out a nOOb grow it would consist of:

1- 4' shop light, Home Depot, $20
2- 4' T12 bulbs, cool white, Home depot, $8
1- HPS400, Inside Sun, $150 (this is a CHEAP light, not pretty, but solid)
12- 4" quart pots, you can usually get them out of the dumpster at a local garden center, or just ask for used ones, they hand them out like candy
6- 12" gallon pots... same deal. The cheap ones that garden plants come in.
2- 40 lb sacks of store-brand composted cow manure with humus, $5, Agway
2- 6 qt bags of perlite, $10, Agway
1- small bag 'seedling starting mix', $4, home depot
1- package of dixie cups, $1 at the dollar store
1- 14a outdoor timer, ~$12, home depot
Assorted fans, spend about $25 at walmart and you will be fine.

Plus fertilizer, which will be:
Superthrive
Grow fert
Bloom fert
Bloom supplement if you want

If you use that soil you will probably not need to worry about pH problems. But a test kit is still very helpful.

Everything together adds up to under $300, not bad considering that is the price of a zip! Everybody go yippee!!! Weed is FUN!

Now that you have the pieces of the puzzle, you get to figure out how to use all that shit to make a grow!