Save Money on Textbooks

College textbooks can be expensive. Each semester, I would hear my fellow students complain about the high prices of textbooks and how much money they spent on them, sometimes as much as multiple hundreds of dollars. I also had to buy a bunch of textbooks for my classes. But instead of having to spend all my money, I actually made $200 in my last three years of college. This article will teach you how to save money on textbooks and get them for cheap. My other article on Selling Textbooks, located here, shows you the best ways to get the best price when you sell your textbooks.

To get the best deal on textbooks, its best to start early. After registering for your classes, get a list of all your required textbooks. Along with the title, author and edition, try to get the ISBN number for each book. Having the ISBN number can make textbook buying much simpler, so it is good to have it. To get the ISBN, you may have to go to the bookstore and look at the back cover in the bottom corner to find it. While at the bookstore, you should write down how much they are charging for the books and if any extras (like CDs or internet resources) come with it.

Some universities, or their bookstores, insist that certain textbooks are required, when in fact, they are rarely used. Try to find out, from other students, the professor, etc. which books are really needed. It's smart to see if the library carries the textbooks on reserve. If it is a book that is only used occasionally, then using the library's reserves would be a good way to go.

Once you have your list of textbooks, start looking for the lowest prices. Usually you can find the cheapest price online. You'll be amazed when you see the price differences compared to the campus bookstore. When looking for textbooks, I like to use the website, campusbooks.com. Enter in the ISBN, or title of the textbook that you're looking for and it will bring up the lowest price from a bunch of different websites. Browse around on the various sites, and find the textbook that you want.

You'll need to read the descriptions; some of the books are international edition. International textbooks tend to be cheaper. They are textbooks that are sold outside of the US in other countries, ie India. They are usually the exact same textbook as the US versions, but they have a different cover and are usually paperback. Only once did I have an international book that was different than US editions. (It was a statistics book, so the material was the same, but the questions were in a different order, so I used the library's reserve book whenever I needed to do questions from the book)

While looking at textbooks online, you'll also notice that past editions are also much cheaper. As soon as a new edition comes out, prices dramatically drop, though most of the information is still the same. You may want to consider getting an older text book. I would do a few things first. E-mail the professor and ask if there is a big difference between the books. They would have the best idea of the changes that have been made between editions. If the book has questions that you'll need to solve (such as a math book), don't risk getting the older copy. Also if you already feel comfortable with the subject, an older edition wouldn't be too bad.

After you've gotten the list of required textbooks, have done some comparison pricing and decided if you want to get an older or international edition, then it is time to buy the book. Buying early in the summer will get you cheaper textbooks because prices will go up as the semester gets closer. When the semester is over and its time to sell your textbooks, check out my other article on Selling Textbooks here.