This week, thousands of students will swarm classrooms and head back to campus. Higher education is a pricey endeavor. Once scholars pay for parking passes and tuition, they still face the high cost of books. Everyone wants to know how to save money on college textbooks, and here are my top suggestions.
Buy Used
If at all possible, you need to purchase used books. From campus stores to online retailers (more on those in a minute), you can pay a fraction of the cost for your texts buying used. You might also be able to score a textbook from a fellow student who’s already taken the course for far fewer dollars.
Avoid Other Bookstore Purchases
Your textbooks actually might not be the most expensive buy you make at the bookstore. From supplies to that cute shirt to sport your new school colors to snacks for your dorm, you can quickly find yourself picking up more than you bargained for in the bookstore. Only buy what you came in for or if you can’t resist temptation buy online.
Buy (Or Rent) Online
Most might automatically think of shopping for books online using Amazon (especially taking advantage of this FREE Trial Amazon Prime Student!) but there are plenty of other places on the net where you can snag a deal on your books. Half.com allows you to both sell your old books and purchase new ones. Chegg and Bigwords even let you rent textbooks for just a semester. Like you would for any online shopping purchase, be sure to search for coupon codes and when possible use a cash back site like Ebates. Right now you can get 3% back from Ebates on Chegg which might be a nice chunk of change once all is said and done.
Wait Until The First Day of Class
You may want to wait until your first class before you buy all of your books. Often, professors will allow you to purchase an earlier edition of a text or have suggestions on the most affordable place to purchase a specific book. Let your prof weigh in first.
Hit the Library
You may be able to borrow some books from the library in lieu of purchasing them. Obviously this wouldn’t work for every book but if your course involves reading a classic or even only a portion of a text, you could look into checking it out from the campus library or making copies of select passages.
Don’t make your university experience any more expensive than necessary. Saving on college textbooks doesn’t take a degree, just some savvy shopping smarts.
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out The Debt Free Devotional
This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!
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