Various questions on obtaining the ITIL V3 Foundation Certification

Hello,

I am part of a large organization.  We have six new hires, including myself, that are looking to get ITIL certifications.  We are all basically fresh out of college, in an early career development program.  Our program manager has instructed us to research training requirements and other options that we have in order to obtain the ITIL V3  Certification.  I am not sure if he wants to go further than Foundation, but that is what I will assume for now.  He wants us to provide a recommendation on the most cost and time effective way to achieve this certification.  

That is my main question - what are our options?  He recommends looking at pinkelephant.com - besides that website, I am looking at some others such as http://www.itiltraining.com and digano.com (although that last website is confusing).  Do you guys have any other websites to recommend?  Or any alternatives?

On the other hand, is it even necessary for training?  Given that we do not have too much corporate experience besides internships.... but I am reading here that it is not even necessary to pay for any course for the foundation exam ...  http://www.itskeptic.org/pass-itil-v3-foundation-exam-six-easy-and-free-ste



Some other questions I have are:

Do I have to have 2 credits in order to take the ITIL v3 foundation exam?  I was under the impression that anyone can take it, but then this chart just gives me a different impression.  

http://www.sonoma.edu/it/sta/pinkelephant/itil_v3_certification_paths.pdf

Lastly, some of these free training materials that I am finding online - some of them are from 2007, which is when I believe V3 first was released.... will it matter? - does the exam change?  If so, how often?

Thanks in advance!