98 Camry/oxygen Sensors Bad

[lizcakes]

My husband brought his Camry to be inspected last week (the engine light has been on for "a while") and was rejected for emissions issues. Left the car to be fixed at garage (good one) and they said they couldn't do it as it needed a Toyota dealership's attention. The print-out from the garage says: "Check for emissions. Check for multiple trouble codes/ Engine controller needs to be reprogrammed and oxygen sensors replaced a the Toyota dealer. There are other problems that should be cost effective to repair if you decide to follow through with above."

The mechanic figures at LEAST a thousand to fix the problems. Alternatives? We want to keep this car as it only has 141K on it and we've got one child in college this year and 2 in college next year!!! We don't want to lay out more money for a used...

Mechanic also said this was a problem with the Camrys from that time period.

Thanks in advance for any help.