Guest post from Addi of Frugal Fanatic
Do you have a child starting college? Or are you going back to earn a degree? You may be shocked at the high cost of textbooks that are necessary for each class.
Well, there’s good news — even though you do have to purchase the books, you do NOT have to pay incredibly high prices!
Here are five ways that you can save money on college textbooks:
1. Avoid the school bookstore.
It may be the easiest route to take, but is always the most expensive way. Be sure to check online first. You may be able to find all the books you need for a lot cheaper than the bookstore.
2. Use Amazon.com.
Sites like Amazon often sell books for a discounted rate. There are a lot of sites out there that offer gently used books for a much lower price. Buying used books is a great way to save yourself a ton of money on your books.
3. Consider renting your books.
You also have the option to rent the textbooks you need for each class. You can find several websites that offer book rentals for a much smaller cost than buying the book outright. Most likely you will not need the book after the course is complete so this is a nice option to save some cash.
4. Ask about eBooks.
Be sure to check with your professor if an eBook is allowed for the course. You will often save more than 50% by purchasing the eBook version. Plus you won’t need to carry a book around with you each time you head to class.
5. Swap books with your friends.
Find friends who have taken the same courses and ask them about swapping books. If you are able to trade books with a group of friends you can save a ton of money on your books.
These are just a few ways to save on the cost of college text books — I’d love to hear any other ideas you might add to my list.
Also, keep in mind that you can usually re-sell your textbooks when the class is over and put that money towards your books for the next semester!
Addi Ganley is a work-at-home mom of 3 young boys. Her blog, Frugal Fanatic, focuses on how to live a frugal lifestyle. She is passionate about saving money and believes that if you save where you can then you can spend where you want to. Frugal Fanatic is her way of helping other people learn how to manage their finances in every day life.
The Jewish Lady says
I’m always on the lookout for ways to get books cheaper. Here are 15 ideas: http://thejewishlady.com/buying-books-less/
B. Winblad says
This is a very useful post for those in college or those who may be sending kiddos off to college. But, I really wish posts like this would do a little more research and provide the reader with the details they are describing. I am referring to option #3 about renting textbooks. Many may not know this option even exists, I surely did not. Providing a link or two of reputable places where textbook renting could be safely & securely done would have helped readers tremendously. It’s great to have guest posts where they discuss specific topics, but sometimes I wish they would be a little bit more thorough and detailed since they are the ones bringing the topic to the forefront to get readers attention, and often doing so to direct them to their own blogs for promotion.
Crystal Paine says
There are some great suggestions in the comments — make sure to check those out!
Savy says
I love using http://www.chegg.com, this is the cheapest place I have found to rent books. You can buy, or rent textbooks, or ebooks.
Amanda says
As a recent college graduate, I’ve used all of these tips! Also, check with your professors to see if they can put copies of textbooks on reserve in the school’s library. Both my community college and university had wonderful textbook reserves in their libraries that were FREE to use on campus.
Another tip is to ask your professor if you can use an older edition of the textbook, which cost significantly less than the most recent edition.
Maria T. says
My daughter and I have gotten really good prices by renting from Chegg and Bookbyte.
http://www.chegg.com/
http://www.bookbyte.com/
liz says
By far the best way to save money is to get the older editions of textbooks. For me it was always cheaper than all other options, even renting the book. If the professor does not allow older editions then get the newer edition and sell it back at the end of the semester. When selling the books back (easy as pie BTW) you also end up paying less than a rental and won’t have that deadline hanging over your head.
This being said you won’t want older editions for math books. Reason being: the math problem numbers may be different and when assigned homework you may do the wrong ones.
Bettina Lowry says
My son is going to start his college sophomore year and we learned the very first semester of his college career to wait until after classes started to get books. Some of the classes he didn’t really need the book. We rented most of the rest of the ones he did need from Amazon. Of course, we had to buy one or two, but we saved tons of money last year being very cautious with the textbook buying. If you do rent from Amazon and find out you don’t need it within a certain amount of time(it happened to us), they will just charge you to ship it back (about $3, depending on the book). I sure wish Amazon had been around when I was in college. We could have saved my parents a fortune. 🙂
Mel says
I always went to the first class before buying books for a class that had several books. I bought the ones needed first, and was able to wait a few days before buying the rest which would be on the next credit card cycle.
Cathy says
What a timely post and great comments as well. Thanks to everyone for sharing your ideas! My son is just starting community college so we have years of textbook buying ahead, and I will be using these ideas, for sure.
For his first class, over the summer, the professor actually recommended finding older versions, and she put textbooks on reserve at the library so if you couldn’t afford to buy anything, you could still do the reading.
Kaycee says
Always ask your professor. My department requires a textbook but I don’t actually use it. I’m fine if my students save the $200 and just use my note pack. Also buying older edition textbooks can work if your professor says it doesn’t matter if you have the newest version.
Lea Stormhammer says
I’m going to second asking your professor before you buy or rent!
Sometimes edition number DO matter (for example, one of our text books added a whole chapter that we actually used!) so make sure purchasing an older edition is okay before you do.
I also ordered a workbook style textbook that people tried to rent because we “wouldn’t use all of it” – um, no. The title page and the index were all that was left after we filled in the pages and handed them in! I had several frustrated students who had to return their rented text and then try to find one to purchase at the last minute. Some professors require students to highlight or otherwise mark in their textbooks so renting may not be an option then too – and it’s good to check!
Other times texts are truly optional and it’s helpful to know before you buy so you can focus on what you really need.
As faculty, we do really understand how expensive texts are and are hoping you get something from purchasing them, rather than just randomly assigning expensive books. So please talk to the professors if you have any questions!
Lea
Linda in Mass says
My daughter saved a bunch of money going through Amazon and getting international editions. Her chemistry book just had a different cover but the content was the same. She saved hundreds. She also asked her professors if she could get the older edition. Most were fine with that.
Alexis@clipyourcash says
I always had luck on half.com when I was in school. I also sold my books on this website after the end of each semester.
Emily says
When I was in school just a few years ago, I had a few situations where I was able to share a book with a friend. For one course my friend and I had certain days with the book each week and then we would meet for breakfast before class to study for the quiz together. We both got A’s in the class and we saved about $75 dollars apiece because we were able to resell the book when we were finished.
Misty Nicole Overstreet-Roberts (The Lady Prefers To Save) says
While in undergrad, I found out that a lot of books, in various majors, are free online through the Library of Congress. This was a huge money-saver for me! Also, I volunteered to read books for the student resource center at my college, to help vision-impaired students, and the director in exchange would let me borrow books for the weekend, and I would use that time to look over notes and do all of my reading assignments, and not pay for the books! Also, Chapel and Religious Studies was required at my school, and my chaplain would let me borrow the semesters books in exchange for three hours of aid to the department a semester. I would email every professor, every department head, every media specialist and find out what resources were available to me as soon as I signed-up for classes, and this way I was not paying unnecessary fees. For the books I had to have, like lab books, art books, etc. I would ask upperclassmen or buy used books on college pages on Facebook as well. With all of these shortcuts, plus couponing, I saved myself $4,618.00 in four years, as I was a double major in American History and Pre-Law!
Addi says
That is awesome that you were able to save that much money throughout college on textbooks alone!!
Kristin says
I recently graduated and saved a ton of money by buying older editions of textbooks. Textbooks usually come out with new editions every year or two (this is how they make their money!). The newest edition usually has very few changes from the previous version.
Ask the professor if it’s okay to buy the older version. Older books are significantly cheaper. Most professors are okay with this. Also, campus libraries sometimes have copies of textbooks. You can’t check them out, but can use them inside the library.
I’ve saved thousands by doing these things, don’t be fooled by the campus bookstore!
Kelsey Bohler says
Use your local library! My husband is in seminary, and last semester, for example, we ordered 18 out of 19 of his books through our library system. Our out of pocket expenses for the whole semester were $6 (for the one book the library didn’t have)!
Yes, it does take some finagling… you have to renew every three weeks, but our library allows up to five renewals, which lasted almost all the way through the semester.
Karen says
Great idea! I taught history and encouraged my students to do the same. I even gave away an older edition of our text one year. Also as a student, my college roommate and I took the same college algebra course on different days. We shared the same book, splitting the cost.
Jennifer B. says
It is worth checking out abebooks.com too!
Be sure to note the condition (good, fair, etc.) of any used books before making your final decisions about purchases no matter where you shop.
Jacki says
It’s easy to shop for your books online if you know the ISBN numbers.
We shopped for our homeschooling books on Amazon.com and found all of them used and in good condition for a fraction of new prices. One was less than a dollar and with shipping, less than $5.00. We are set for school for this year for less than $100.00 for our books for two children.
Jennifer says
When I was in school, I always used dealoz.com. It searches the whole Internet for a specific book, factors in the cost of shipping when listing prices, and even searches for coupons. I paid less than $100 for books most semesters. Many times the cheapest options came from half.com, which is a Ebay marketplace where people sell they’re used books. Most people would ship the books via Media Mail, so it was cheaper than regular shipping. I also resold on half.com any books I didn’t think I would want to read again to help pay for the next semester’s books.
Amy says
My university includes $105 in fees each semester, and then we’re allowed to rent the our books from the university bookstore. As long as we bring them back by a certain deadline, there’s no additional charge! While not every professor chooses a textbook on the rental system, the vast majority do choose to do this. I’m a junior in college and I’ve only bought 3 textbooks (okay, and lab manuals, since you do have to write in those and can’t bring those back).
Not every university does textbook rental, but it was a major consideration for me when I was looking at schools, and it’s saved me TONS of cash!
Addi says
That is great that your University offered textbook rental. It does it make it much more affordable when a school offers this service.
Laura says
These are some great tips! I am a recent college graduate and by far the best website I have used to find books cheap is http://www.gettextbooks.com. You simply put in the books ISBN, name, author, or other description and it searches multiple sites to find you the best offers all in one spot. You can see the costs for buying new, used, or even renting. It makes finding the best offers so easy!