A huge expense throughout my college career was purchasing text books. In talking to a few students that I run into on a regular basis it has become clear that this problem has not gotten any better. Even as a college student I was always looking for a deal so I came up with a strategy for spending the least amount of money on books for my courses.
Step 1 - Do I need the book? - No one will tell you this but some professors don't even use the book. They are required to have some sort of text book so they list one because they have to. The only way to know this is to show up to the first few class meetings. Usually you can tell by the syllabus and, after a few semesters, you get a feel for the different professors and can know which ones use the textbooks that are "required." Most of the time the book will be needed, but the few times it isn't you will save a ton.
Step 2 - Share a book - I will be the first to admit that I had ulterior motives with this step. My goal was always to A) save money and B) meet the prettiest girl in the class (not necessarily in that order). I would go up to said girl and ask if she would be willing to split the cost of a text book and share it throughout the semester. We would then have an easy study partner for the next four months. This does work (both financially and socially), but if you are kind of creepy this may not be the best course of action for you.
Step 3 - Buy Used - Whenever I could I would buy used books. I would even ask the prof if an older edition of the current book being used would be adequate (usually it was the chapters were just in a different order). The other way to buy used is to buy directly from another student. Look around campus and on Craigslist for people selling their old books. Many times you can get them less than the used price at the bookstore and the person selling will be able to sell it for more than what the bookstore will give them. Buying used and especially a previous edition was the most frequent way I saved money on my books.
Step 4 - Buy Online - There are tons of places to purchase textbooks online. The big vendors are Amazon.com
Step 5 - Buy at the Book Store - There are some books that you just cannot find any other place than the school book store. In this instance you just have to bite the bullet and go the the scam book store and pay full price. This didn't happen to me a lot but every once in a while the professor would get you stuck paying the outrageous prices that the book store was charging. I hope this never happens to you
Tomorrow I will cover a new way to get textbooks that was not available when I was in college.
3 Responses to “Saving Money On College Textbooks Pt. 1” Leave a reply ›
I'd like to add a suggestion to the Step 4 list for Buy Online. A great price-comparison site for both buying and selling books is http://www.campusbooks.com which shows deals on used, new, rental, and eBooks so students can choose what's best for them.
Hi there! Thanks for the recommendation. One thing that I wanted to point out about our site is that not only does A1Books sell new books on our website but we also allow other sellers to list new and used books as well. The seller may be a high volume book seller with the ability to offer a discounted textbook to the student or a college student looking to get rid or last semester's book. We are also offering students with a .edu address to earn double the points in August which can later be redeemed for items on our site.