5 Creative Ways to Find College Textbooks on the Cheap
As college students across America return to their campuses this month and begin new classes, the cost of textbooks weighs on their minds and wallets.
The easiest route, of course, is to simply stroll down to your local campus bookstore and buy all of the books for your chosen class, but that's rarely the best option. You're often better off shopping online for textbooks, buying them used or even renting them from textbook rental services.
However, the options don't end there. There are many additional avenues to follow if you've got a big list of textbooks to buy and not enough cash. Here are five fresh approaches you may not have tried.
[See: Basic Money Lessons You (Probably) Missed in High School.]
Use your social network and swap books. Know people in your major? Talk to them and see what classes they took last semester and whether they still have those books around. You might be able to borrow that book for a semester or buy it for a low price. Even better, you might find that you took a class last semester that your friend taking this semester, which allows you to swap books.
It never, ever hurts to check your social network before buying a textbook. Just simply list the classes you're taking and the books you need for the coming semester, and list any books you have from the classes you took last semester. You may find yourself borrowing, trading or buying books at a low price and saving a ton of money, thanks to your friends.
Talk directly to the professor (and to assistants) about textbook options. Many professors understand the financial crunch that college students go through when it comes to textbook-buying time. Often, if you address the textbook situation with your professor directly, you'll find that the professor has a creative solution in store. Perhaps the textbook is just a supplement to the course notes, or there's an alternate textbook that works well.
Don't limit such questions to the class professor, either. Talk to the teaching assistants and see if they have any ideas or resources that you can tap. Sometimes, a TA will have an extra copy of a book that he or she can loan to the first student who asks, or perhaps the assistant knows of a good source for inexpensive books. Your TA may even have an unexpected solution that the professor might not be aware of.
[See: How to Talk to Millennials About Money.]
Share a textbook with a trusted classmate. If you're taking a class with someone you trust and expect to study with regularly -- perhaps even your roommate -- the two of you can share the cost of a single copy of the textbook. This allows you to split the cost in half and, if you're buying used, can get the price down to just a few dollars for many classes.
Of course, this requires some cooperation and planning. You will be unable to actually look at the textbook at the same time, so be sure that you have a good agreement in place with regards to handling assignments and studying prior to an exam. Simply planning to study together can resolve this difficulty, but you should be sure that you have a stable friendship with this person, so that you're not stuck without a textbook just before a major exam or project is due.
Use an older edition. Many textbooks have a very similar older edition with surprisingly few updates from edition to edition. When looking at textbooks for the class, check to see whether an older edition of the book is available at a low price. If it is, check with the professor and the teaching assistants to see whether the older edition is compatible with the class.
Even better, many professors and teaching assistants will often have access to a few copies of older editions of textbooks and, if they work with the class, will allow students to borrow them. It doesn't hurt to ask.
[See: 12 Best Part-Time Jobs to Pay the Bills.]
Choose class offerings based on textbook requirements. At many universities, you may find different sections of the same class may have different textbook requirements. A professor who teaches a particular class in the fall might require a $200 textbook while that same class, when taught in the spring, is with a professor who uses only extensive notes that he or she shares freely.
When considering which classes to sign up for -- or when you're adding and dropping classes -- look for sections that have a low-cost textbook offering. If you've got some scheduling flexibility, put off classes that require an expensive book this semester but have used inexpensive texts in the past. This takes a bit of homework, to be sure, but it can save a tremendous amount of money if you choose smartly.
Using these strategies in concert with smart purchasing of used books and book rentals can save college students a tremendous amount of money.
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