It is that time of year again! The school year is beginning to start up, students are buying their school supplies, new bedding, clothes and especially their textbooks. Textbooks are an essential part of any college experience and it is often not the cheapest expenditure of your college career. However, thanks to the Internet as well as using your resources you can reduce the overall cost of your textbooks.
1. Chegg
Chegg is an amazing resource for most undergraduate students. It is not uncommon for Chegg to have the lowest prices for renting your textbooks and you are able to receive your textbooks quickly, typically within a week. Additionally, Chegg often has great deals on free shipping and orders over a certain amount which can reduce the price further. However, if you want to buy your textbooks Chegg is not a great resource as it often has textbooks prices compared to most college bookstores.
2. Amazon
If you would like to buy your textbooks they I highly recommend checking out Amazon for them. There is a reason Amazon's logo is an arrow pointing from A to Z as they truly have everything, including textbooks. You can often buy used textbooks for a low rate and you can also rent textbooks through Amazon which is a relatively painless process to return which is helpful after a long semester. Furthermore, with the help of Amazon Student you can get free two-day Prime shipping on the textbooks you order from Amazon.
3. Asking Friends and Family
One of the best ways to get your textbooks is to see if any friends or family have ever taken the course that you are enrolled in or have the textbook. I have used this method often during my time in college and by doing this I was either able to borrow the textbooks for the semester or buy them for a very low rate. It is also a nice way of knowing who has taken a class before as that way you can ask them questions about the course, a reading or a professor so you may have some idea of the type of class that you will be taking.
4. Textbook comparison websites
This may take a little searching and comparing of different websites as some will have different sources than others but there are many websites that allow you to compare the prices of various websites side by side. This is also helpful as you may also discover better textbook rental websites than those listed above.
While buying textbooks is probably not the most fun thing to do for college, if you do your research you can end up saving a lot of money that can be used for better things or take some off your student loans. Textbooks are needed for college and are beneficial for the course, however expensive they may be. However, hopefully with these tips you can save some cash off of them!
