Buying Textbooks at Florida Atlantic University and Palm Beach Community College

In Palm Beach County, there are several institutions of higher education including Palm Beach Community College and Florida Atlantic University. If you are planning to attend either of these schools this semester, your first priority after you have registered will probably be books. Although the bookstores at the schools will have all of the books you need for your classes, should you really purchase them from the university's bookstore?

The answer to that question is an emphatic "no." Of course, there are occasions when the only place you will find your required books will be at the school bookstore, but the majority of the time you will be able to find them elsewhere.

One such place is Booksmart, a store that sells textbooks for all classes offered at Palm Beach Community College and Florida Atlantic University at substantially lower prices than the school bookstores. Booksmart has several locations in Palm Beach County conveniently located within walking distance of the schools. The store in Lake Worth is located across the street from PBCC on the corner of 6th Avenue South and Congress Avenue, the Boca Raton store is located on Glades Road across the street from the Boca campuses of FAU and PBCC, and the Palm Beach Gardens store is located on PGA Boulevard about a block west of PBCC. The employees are usually very helpful and friendly.

There is one drawback to buying your books off campus, though-Booksmart doesn't accept financial aid, so you have to pay for the books up front. If it is financially possible for you to purchase your books there, you really should. Also, when it comes time to sell your books back at the end of the semester, Booksmart usually offers more money than the college bookstores do.

Another option for buying books is Amazon, Half.com, or any number of other online resources. Because shipping and delivery times vary when you order books online, students should only use this option if they know well ahead of time what textbooks they need for classes, or if they know they will not need a certain book until later in the semester. I had a personal experience where I didn't receive a book for two months after I ordered it online, and I know other people who never received their books at all, so make sure you order from a reputable online source.

In addition to buying online, most students aren't aware that they can also sell their books back online. Last semester I sold a lot of my books online to Barnes and Noble after I was told at both Booksmart and the FAU bookstore that they weren't buying my books back. When you sell your books online, you enter the ISBN, price the book, print out the postage and the invoice, and put your books in a box and mail them. You don't pay for a thing and a few weeks later the company will send you a check.

Wherever you buy your books, make sure that you shop around for the best price. Overall, college books can run you about $500-$600 a semester, so even if you just save a few dollars on a book, it will add up to bigger savings over the duration of your education.