College is already expensive, but when you add on an extra $1,000 each semester for textbooks, it can be difficult to keep up with the cost of anything else. Plus, some professors rarely teach from the books that they require. So, how can you cut some of those unnecessary burdens without having to make some tough choices?
Buy an older edition.
Most of your professors won’t care which version of the text you have. If you can buy the eighth edition as opposed to the ninth, it will be only a fraction of the price. Plus, most of the information will be exactly the same, especially if it’s for a class in the humanities.
Shop around.
Like Smokey Robinson’s mother told him, “Don’t be sold on the very first one." Look in a variety of places: check out the local university bookstore, search online, ask friends at your college. You want to make sure that you compare prices so you can make sure you’re getting the best deal.
Buy a secondhand copy.
Just because a book is slightly used doesn’t mean it’s in anyway lesser than a new book - except in one way: the price tag. Publishers come out with new editions every five to seven years, but in the meantime, copies of the current edition change hands many times. You can sometimes cut the cost of your books for the semester in half by doing this.
Go to the campus library.
You may not have to buy textbooks at all. Most colleges only have one or two copies of each book, so make sure you get there before the semester starts or they will be gone. This is especially handy if you’re taking a literature course, because most of the fiction works could be found for free.
Find a buddy.
You would be surprised how many people in college are opting to share a textbook with other students in the class. You get to pay exactly half of whatever the book costs and you pretty much have an automatic study buddy, which is a win-win.
Rent your books.
If you don’t plan on holding on to your textbooks for at least a few years, then there’s really no need to buy them. Renting is a cheap solution to the high price of textbooks, and it will clear some space on your bookshelf for when the new E.L. James book comes out.
E-books are your friends.
Electronic copies of textbooks are more popular now than ever before. They’re a cheaper alternative and they are much more portable than a heavy stack of textbooks. Plus, they allow you to use Control + F to find exactly what you are looking for without having to search through an entire book.
