Purchasing college textbooks can be a relatively huge expense. You can easily spend hundreds of dollars each and every semester when purchasing your books at retail. Often times, the cost of purchasing textbooks is the responsibility of the student and does not come out of grant / scholarship money.
Fortunately, there are many ways that you can save money on your textbooks.
- Purchase Used Textbooks – My first suggestion is to compare prices and purchase used textbooks instead of buying new. You can easily save up to 90% of your textbook cost just by doing this.
Widget Here
- Sell Your Books When You Are Done – Once you’re done using your textbook, you can sell it back for more than you might think. Most buyback companies will provide you with a free shipping label to use when selling back your books! Books can be sold back at any time during the year, not just during the beginning or end of semester. This applies to traditional books only. Digital books can not be sold back.
Widget Here
- Talk With Other Students – Do you know someone that took the same class recently? They may be willing to sell their book to you at a descent price. If you are lucky and they’re a great friend, maybe they find it in their heart to even let you have it or borrow it.
If you know the student well, you could even just ask them to borrow the book for a semester. When you return it to them, they’ll still be able to sell the book. You get the semester for free and it costs them nothing.
==> Check for an “International” Version
Believe it or not, you’ll often be able to find international versions of popular textbooks in English for a fraction of the price of the local versions.
For example, you might find your statistics textbook in its Japan edition. The title and front cover might be in Japanese and English, but the book’s actual contents are in English.
Search Here
==> Check for Digital Versions
Check for digital versions from the Kindle bookstore and / or ebook versions of your textbook. Many books can be found in PDF format. Although these may not be as easy to use as traditional books, at least to me anyway, they are still a viable option.
Many of the biggest companies in the textbook publishing world, have signed on with Amazon to produce digital formats of their textbooks.
Sometimes digital textbooks can still be pretty pricey, they are less expensive than their traditional counterparts. It’s also worth noting that digital versions can not be sold back.
==> Go half and half with another Student
If you are really on a budget and are not able to find discounted textbooks, you could go 50/50 with another student. This option may be a little tricky and not as convenient as having your own book, but sometimes you do what you have to do. There may be occasions when you have to study together or go without a book for a day or so.
Add more here – Paying just a little more attention to your textbook expenses can help you save hundreds of dollars every semester.
Recent Comments