How to Get Your Textbooks Without Going Broke

The Internet is full of websites where you can rent your textbook for a semester. Chegg and Bookrenter both offer rentals on most college textbooks and even offer rental periods that are shorter than a normal college semester at an even larger discount. You may check with your college bookstore about the possibility of renting books from them. While this is a new concept for college bookstores it is catching on. Three community colleges in San Mateo, California are already renting text books for as little as $25 each. Make sure you return the textbook at the end of your rental period or you will end up paying as much or more than you would at your local bookstore.

International Book Versions

Check for international copies of your text book on-line. Abebooks offers new textbooks at up to a third of the cost of American versions. You need to make sure that the textbook chapters and examples match the American version and if not return the book. You likely will not be able to sell this version back to a bookstore but you may be able to recycle them to other students if you decide not to keep the book at the end of the semester. This will lower your out of pocket costs even more.

Recycle

Unless your professor is requiring a new version or new textbook all together other students have used the same book before. Search for other students wanting to sell their textbook and offer to give them a few dollars more than what the bookstore offers. Not only will this save you money it will put a few extra dollars in another student's pocket. The other perk of getting a book from a past student is the possibility of some great notes in the margins. Many bookstores will not buy a book with extra notes in the margins so you may even be able to find students who have been turned away at the bookstore. Do not overlook stalking the bookstore for these students.

Digital E-books

Book publishers are taking note of the increased market for e-books. Since there is no packaging or shipping costs for the publisher, you can get an e-book much cheaper than a traditional books. Savings of 40 to 50 percent are not unheard of when buying e-books. If you are the type of learner that needs to hold a book in your hands look for publishers that allow you to print your e-book out. Be sure to keep your e-book pages in order by either having them bound at a print store or placing them in a three ring binder.

Share

If you are taking classes with a friend offer to share the expense of the book as long as the book gets shared between the two of you. This works well when your roommate is in your classes since the book would be stored in your room. Make sure you have agreed on a studying schedule and stick to it so that each of you has plenty of time to read the text and study even if you can not study together.

Library

Popular textbooks are routinely kept in college libraries. If your textbook is carried see if it is available for check out. Most colleges do not allow check out but if they do you should be sure to get on the waiting list early. Even if you can not check the book out you can study in the library and using the book there is perfectly acceptable. If there is a particularly hard example you want to look over you may even be able to make a copy of the page in the library.

On-line

Books that are no longer copyrighted such as classic literature or history should be easily found online. Many growing libraries such as Project Gutenberg and Googlebooks offer the ability to read textbooks on a laptop or iPhone. Many of these textbooks can not be printed so you will need to bookmark the page and take great notes for studying.

Beg

Professors may keep an extra textbook in their office. If you are having trouble affording your textbook and can not find an alternate way to get your hands on the needed books you may ask the professor if they have a copy they would be willing to lend out. You should remember that your professor does not have time for every student to beg for a free copy and you should be respectful and nice when you ask for special treatment. Try to offer to help your professor with menial work in exchange for letting you use his free copy of the text. This will show your professor that you are not trying to take advantage of him.