College textbooks can cost a fortune. How many times have you been in a bookstore and found the textbook you need – only to find out days later that the text book is hundreds of dollars? Luckily, there are a number of ways to find affordable textbooks. In some cases, if you are resourceful enough, you will laugh at the thought that you ever considered paying that much for a book. The truth of the matter is that there are a lot of sources for affordable textbooks – and not textbooks that are full of chicken scratch and highlighted notes. Here are five tips to help you save money on college textbooks.
There is a good chance that if you have a few bookstores in town that sell new books, you probably have a few places that sell used textbooks too. You want to find these retailers if you want to save big on your required reading. The last thing you want is to be duped by the fallacy that you need new books.
Indeed, if you have a friend that took the same course as you a semester beforehand, you may want to ask that person if you can borrow their book. There is a chance that your friend was going to sell it anyways. You could even come up with some agreement where you sell the book once the new semester is over and then split the profits with your friend. When you do borrow a friend’s book, you want to take care of it.
If you have a friend that is currently in the same class and your professor is comfortable with open book and open note quizzes, you may want to share the textbook. This is a great way to save money, because you can literally go in 50/50 on the book. If you can’t find the book used, it is especially beneficial to purchase the textbook in tandem, or else you could risk going broke.
Whether you are getting UC’s masters in health administration, or UCLA’s business degree, you may be able find your book in digital format. If you have a tablet, a digital book may even be better, because it will allow you the opportunity to make digital notes, and highlight digitally. This can be so much better and so much more intuitive than dealing with a hardcover book.
On top of everything, you may want to check the book out from your local library. This is a great way to pay almost nothing for a textbook. Of course, it won’t be a brand new book and you may have to take the book out multiple times, but it can be worth it. In the end, all you really need is the information inside.