Car Negotiation Coach

For millions of college freshmen across the US, the past month has been filled with new experiences. Moving away from home for the first time, learning to cook and do laundry, selling body parts to cover the cost of textbooks….

Yeah, that last one isn’t exactly on the list of things to do on campus. But after completing both college and graduate school, I know all too well how unprepared most college students (and their parents) are when it comes to paying for books. Even if your high school required book fees, you were likely paying less than $50 for the privilege of borrowing textbooks for the year. College, on the other hand, requires hundreds of dollars for books – and you’ll only need them for one semester.

Luckily there are several ways to lower the expense of textbooks. Some are probably familiar to you, but I also picked up a few lesser known tips while I was busy accumulating student loan debt enjoying my college years:

Wait until you’ve attended a few classes to buy your books.

Instructors rarely (or never) assign book work during the first week of classes. This is because they’re busy going over the syllabus and course expectations. It’s also because they know most people won’t buy books until they’re sure they don’t want to drop the course.

When you get your syllabus, check the course outline to see exactly how often you’ll be using the required texts. If you’ll only be tested over 3 chapters, it might be easier to borrow the book from the library or make copies of the chapters (provided the book’s copyright allows reproduction, of course). Also, some instructors assign multiple textbooks but only teach from one of them – talk to people who took the class last semester to find out what you actually need.

Share books with a classmate or roommate.

If you know some people in your classes (and if not, get to know them!), you can work out arrangements to share textbooks. For example, if a class requires two books, you can each buy one of them and swap as needed. If there is only one required text, chip in half the money and take turns using the book.

Obviously this can be risky – what happens if you need the textbook and your classmate just went home for the weekend? Or what if the other person loses or damages the book? For most people, though, sharing books is a great way to save money. You can also make new friends if you own the book they need.

Look for digital versions of your textbooks.

Most college students own a smartphone, tablet, or at least a laptop capable of displaying ebooks. If your textbooks are available in digital form, you can often get them much cheaper than a print copy. This does eliminate the possibility of selling your books back at the end of the semester, but some websites (like Amazon.com) allow you to rent books on your device for a specified period of time, lowering the costs even further.

Consider buying the previous edition of the book.

Online retailers often allow you to view a book’s table of contents online. If your instructor wants you to buy the new (expensive) 9th edition of a book, be sure to take a look at the cheaper 8th edition. Often, the changes between editions are minor – I once had an older copy of a Sociology textbook where the only difference was the order of the chapters!

Buy your books online.

This one should be a no-brainer. Campus bookstores mark up the price of textbooks quite a bit to make a profit. You can save hundreds of dollars just by ordering from an online bookstore or retailer, even when you factor in shipping costs.

Online stores like Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Half.com, Bigwords.com, and CampusTextbooks.com are just a few of the vendors offering highly discounted college textbooks.

On a related note, ALWAYS buy used books when possible.

When I was in college, I was obsessed with buying new books for courses related to my major in social work. “These are professional resources!” I told myself. “I’ll need these after I graduate!”

A few months ago, I donated about 40 textbooks to my alma mater after lugging them from house to house in boxes ever since graduation. I never touched a single one of them – the information was much less applicable to my career than I expected, plus it was outdated.

Saving on College Textbooks

The main reason for attending college or graduate school is to further our knowledge and prepare for a career. Obviously, class time and studying should be valued above any other aspects of the college experience. However, it’s not necessary to overspend on textbooks to benefit from your years of study.

The tips above would have saved me hundreds of dollars throughout my college years if I had learned about them sooner. I hope they can be of help to you or your college-aged children in their quest for higher education.

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