$80 is nothing for fonts. Really. I’ve seen font families for sale for at least $200. And when you think about it, it’s not that outrageous a price. Have you ever designed a typeface? It’s difficult and time consuming to make an attractive, legible font. Typography is an art form, and when you rip off people’s fonts you’re stealing their work of art.
As for places you can can get fonts for free, @silverfly‘s suggestion is good. If you feel like making your own typeface, just to see what it’s like, try FontStruct. It’s a free website where people make and post their own fonts, so there are many fonts made by other FontStruct users you can download totally free (and legally).