If, after your research, you decide to use MAX7219 chips as drivers, you can get them for far less than eight dollars each by searching eBay or buying from this company:
Same goes with TI TLC5940 chips which are good for matrix control with greyscale (PWM) ability too. But they are harder to use because they are only low-side drivers and you have to scan the top side yoruself. The MAX chip does both, just without PWM.