Back when I was putting myself through college in the 1970s, and lunch was a major investment, nothing was so annoying as spending hundreds of dollars on textbooks that ended up never being used in the class.
After a few semesters, I figured out how to save some money: I quit buying textbooks, or at least most of them. Rather than hit the bookstore as soon as I enrolled in classes, I waited until the classes met a few times to see if we were going to use the books.
If it turned out I’d need the book every day, I’d buy it – used, if possible. If it turned out we’d use the book occasionally, I’d drop by the library to read it. If it turned out the book wasn’t going to be used in the course at all (and it happened more than once), I ignored it.
Being selective about buying textbooks saved me hundreds of dollars my last few years in college.
Today’s students have even more ways to save on textbooks – which is a good thing, because they have gotten a lot more expensive.
Here are several ways to save money on college textbooks:
- Rent the textbooks from companies such as Chegg.com, BookRental.com and CampusBookRentals.com.
- Look for e-books. CourseSmart.com and BookBoon.com are two places to start.
- Look for used textbooks online. eCampus.com buys, sells and rents textbooks, we well as offering e-books. You can also find textbooks at Amazon.com, Half.com and Textbook.com, among other sites. Cheap-Textbooks.com is one of several “bots” that searches multiple sites.
- Look for coupon codes online. Just enter the name of the company where you’re thinking of buying the book plus “coupon” in the search engine.
- Buy or borrow books from friends who have taken the course before.
- Share textbooks with a friend taking the same course.
If all else fails, check the school library. Technology hasn’t changed everything.
