Excitement is in the air. You’re coming back to start another semester at your college (or your first one). You can’t wait to meet new friends, make new memories, and have a great time. As you look at the list of books you need for this semester you realize how bad the school is robbing you. How can it cost $200 for a paperback book? Why does it cost $100 for a simple online access code that can never be used again?
Gone are the days of free textbooks in high school. Looking back we all wish we would’ve appreciated that more while we were there. Now you can easily drop over $1,000 on school materials in just one semester. Personally my books would have all costed around $1,500 for this fall alone, but as I enter my third year on campus I’m here to drop some tricks to save you money on books that I have found to work. This year I got my books from $1,500 to just under $700 by using a few simple tricks.
1. Ditch the Bookstore
Yes, it is nice to just take the easy way and get your textbooks from the store on campus where you can defer the costs to your student account and not have to pay for the books out of pocket. This convenience just costs too much though. The only situations where I would do this is if you cannot find a price difference elsewhere or if the book is a university-specific custom edition.
2. Utilize Off-Campus Book Exchanges
Still not the most cost effective option, but campus bookstores offer a cheaper alternative to the campus store. These locally-owned stores have to have lower prices to be able to compete so you can often find deals here.
3. Amazon/Chegg
Amazon and Chegg are two of the best places on the internet to plug in an ISBN# and find the book you need. They are pretty convenient and ship the books straight to your apartment or dorm. The only thing is that you may not always be able to find the right book or edition.
4. Take Advantage of Rentals
Sometimes the best place to save is by renting books rather than buying them outright. I bought all of my books as a freshman and then went to the university sponsored buy back event at the end of the semester. Much to my surprise, they were only offering about 10% of the value for my books and wouldn’t even take all of them. By renting books you can save yourself from this depreciation and save a pretty penny at the same time.
5. Split Up Packages
Often you will find that books are listed in a package with an online access code. Occasionally this ISBN will be undiscoverable at any other place besides the bookstore. Something I just discovered this year was to find the exact edition and author of a book, search for those and the title on a website like Chegg or Amazon and find the book by itself to rent. Then I will go and find the online access code elsewhere. This is probably the place you can save the most money.
6. Cut Out The Middle Man
This kind of relates back to my last point. If you need an online access code it may be cheaper to buy it straight through the company website and cut out the middle man. This isn’t 100% effective but you could save between $10 and $25 per code if you get lucky.
So far these are the best ways I have found to cut my textbook bill in half. Saving this extra bit of money each semester may allow you to pay off your loans faster, save for a big purchase, or maybe just have more fun and food money. Whatever it is you save money on, I hope that you can take this advice and avoid giving all of your money to the schools and textbook companies.
