Saving Money on College Textbooks

College tuition is always on the rise; leaving you with less money to spend on other supplies. However there are still some ways to save on your college expenses, so think again before heading out to your campus book store to buy all of your text books.  We know there are many ways to save a lot of money on your next round of college text books. Most classes use more than one textbook and with prices typically higher than $50 per book; you will find quickly find yourself in more debt. With these few tips you can save yourself hundreds of dollars this school year.

Rent Textbooks

Textbook rentals are growing in popularity online and on school campuses. Textbook rentals can save you the hassle of trying to resell books for a fraction of what you spent. Most places will even let you write and highlight all over your book. Be sure you send your books back on time or you risk extra charges on your rental.

Buy Older Editions

My personal favorite way to save money on textbooks is buying older editions. Older editions are can usually be found on Amazon for less than $10 shipped. Your classes will always use the newest version of a book even if the book only has minor changes. If there is an older edition of the textbook available, contact your professor to find out if you can use the older edition. In my experience, I’ve been able to buy the older edition a good 80% of the time. An older edition only has minor changes and in most cases has 99% of the same content of the new edition. Let’s face it, textbooks are a business, they continually update every year in attempt to drain the most money out of your pocket.

Best Places to Buy Textbooks Online

The best way to beat campus book store prices is to buy your textbooks online. In my experience, the best places to buy from are eBay, Amazon, and Craigslist. There are also textbooks search engine sites to help you find the best deal. The best advice is to buy early, most books are shipped USPS Media Mail and can take up to ten days to arrive if you’re buying cross country.  If you need it a bit earlier, be sure to pay for priority mail (~$4).  Check out eBooks as well, you don’t need a Kindle, you can download them straight to a smart phone or a computer.

Buying early and doing your research will ensure you will find the best deal on your books. Don’t think you are stuck with your books once you buy them you can always throw them back on the market to make some money back. If you shop smart you will still have some extra cash after buying your books.

Here’s my current list of required textbooks and an example of how much money I will save buying online:

*Prices listed are for current editions

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