6 Tips to Help You Save Money on School Textbooks

Tip Hero serves up fresh money-saving tips daily,
with over 2,000 tips shared to date.

GET FREE UPDATES:

Tips by Category:

School & Office

Home > School & Office > Topics: Books

-----------------------------------------

6 Tips to Help You Save Money on School Textbooks

Submitted by: Tip Hero 08/19/2009 3:41 AM

According to a 2005 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office ("GAO"), textbook prices have risen at twice the rate of inflation over the past two decades. The average fulltime college student spends $900 each semester on books and supplies. With students heading back to college in September, TipHero has dug up six tips that can help you save money on textbooks.

1. Get your Hands on the Syllabus ASAP

There�s nothing more frustrating than going to the bookstore to find all the used copies are gone and you�re forced to shell out extra money for a brand new copy. One way to get the scoop on which books will be required is to find out which professor is teaching the class and pop your head in during their office hours and ask them which book they will be teaching from. You could also ask friends who have taken the class previously as books change on an infrequent basis.

2. Check out Textbook Comparison Shopping Sites

These sites let you search multiple sources such as Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Ebay and other sites from one simple interface. Some of the most popular comparison sites include: Directtextbook.com, CheapestTextbooks.com, Booksprice.com, campusbooks.com, and Bigwords.com.

3. Try the Buddy System

Find a friend in your degree and setup a plan where you alternate classes so you can buy one book between the two of you and switch books at the end of each term.

4. Start a Book Exchange

When you are in your degree classes, note that most of the students in these classes will be taking similar courses. Take this opportunity to put together an email list of students within your degree. Ask each student to email you a list of their current text books, then put together a master digest of everyone�s current books to facilitate exchanges. Some students have been using Facebook to setup textbook exchanges as well.

5. Rent your Textbooks

Sites such as BookRenter.com, Chegg.com and CampusBookRentals.com let you rent books for a semester or longer. You can typically rent your books for half the purchase price. In the end, if you buy from the bookstore or not, you�re essentially renting your textbooks anyways.

6. Recoup your Costs

When it comes time to sell your books at the end of the term, don�t assume you�ll get the best price from the college bookstore. Do some research and consider selling your books on sites like Amazon or Ebay. Popular textbooks will be the easiest to sell on the major sites.

For more money saving tips like this, sign up for our free newsletter.

Photo credit: betsssssy

---
sponsored: Find Money Budgeting Tips.

---
Tip Hero serves up new money-saving tips daily.
Get free updates via Email , RSS or Twitter.

More Money-Saving Tips:

Buy International Edition Text Books for School and Save Big

Get Free Ebooks with Project Gutenberg

Maximizing your School Supply Dollars

Rent Your College Books

Sponsored Searches:

Discount Textbooks

Swap Books

Cheap School Supplies

Online College Credit

College Scholarships

Comments:

.................................

For anyone in the Raleigh NC area, I am a book buyer. I have found a lot of parents are stuck with books they cannot pass on. Please let me know at seminarnow(@)aol(dot)com if you have any books for sale, or call 919-272-7877. If you want to have a book drive at your school I can offer you my services so you can raise money for good causes.

Posted by judy ordway on October 09, 2008 4:54 PM

.................................

Also try half.com and ebay, and search for digital textbooks because they are sometime half as expensive.

Posted by anonymous on August 20, 2009 3:11 PM

.................................

I have used bigwords.com for years.. and saved literally thousands of dollars, compared to the prices (even used book prices) at our college bookstore. I have also had good luck with International Editions of textbooks... usually printed on cheaper paper.. but the content is the same; just check if the illustrations are in color instead of black and white, if that's important to you. I just saved $237 on a (what would have been) $500 textbook bill, using BigWords.com

Posted by Sharon on August 20, 2009 6:58 PM

.................................

betterworldbooks.com offers free shipping to the US, and only $3.97 worldwide.

It can be hit or miss for textbooks though.

This is a great site to support because they support world literacy.

Also if you are a memeber with a site I am with they offer points for each dollar you use. This is a double bonus to use this site. Please email me at meyermv(at)gmail(dot)com, I would love to be a referral. There are other sites you can earn points from other sites as well, such as Barnes and Nobel, and ebay.

After you earn so many points you can redeem gift certificates. I only buy things I need such as text books and ... a PS3 lol, seriously though, if you're going to buy things you need anyway you might as well earn points for it. It's free to join. I have already redeemed 3 $50 gift cards. Email me for details.

Posted by Mai on August 21, 2009 10:21 AM

.................................

Craig's List is another resource to buy and sell books. If you go to CL, then books and type in the name of your college the the course number the books will pop up. I sold a psychology book within less than 1 hour of listing it on CL for $40-and this particular book I could not list on Half.com because it wasn't in the catalogue. I also only found 2 places willing to buy it using Directtextbook.com AND they were only going to pay less than $15!
This works great for those colleges that have "special" books that are for their university only-like UF and are hard to find on online used book sites.

Posted by Valerie on August 21, 2009 12:09 PM

.................................

Page:

When I saw this money tip I instantly thought of Eric and Jenna. See if they could benefit from these saving tips on buying textbooks.

Posted by Jon Chin on August 21, 2009 6:29 PM

.................................

I am a full time student and I have gotten many books from people on Craig's List. This semester, however, I tried something different. I went directly to the publisher. My school was selling the package for $222.00. I went on the publishers website got the package for $130.00. I think it is a shame that the school allows the bookstore to contract out and charge so much for books. I will boycott school bookstores any way I can.

Posted by Peggy Bracamonte on August 27, 2009 10:20 AM

.................................

Trade your books at Bookins.com. I have never used them to try to find text books, but I have found several of the books my daughter needs for Literature or Social Studies classes in High School there. You get points for any books you trade and you only pay a flat $4.95 shipping fee for and books you need request from another member. Check it out!

Posted by Robin on August 29, 2009 10:44 PM

.................................

Thanks
I used Albris
and half
can search cheap textbos

Posted by Sharene on September 27, 2009 11:12 PM

.................................

I just ran across your blog and wanted to make sure that you knew that eCampus.com also rents Textbooks. You can find search through our available rental books here: Rent Textbooks from eCampus.com

Posted by Matthew Taylor on February 12, 2010 10:57 AM

.................................

We're definitely trying these suggestions..my son just bought 3 used paperback college texts(not great condition either) and paid $227!

He has more to purchase too, so this is great news for us!

Posted by Trish on February 12, 2010 4:25 PM

.................................

This is a true story. I took a class once and the textbook was both out of stock and expensive. I found the book at the public library and rented it for the whole semester using various members of my family. One day in class the topic came up and everyone was complaining about the situation. I told everyone how I had got it from the public library. Needless to say you could here the gasps! Thank goodness I was older than the rest of the class, as I would have been ostracized.

Posted by anonymous on February 14, 2010 4:26 PM

.................................

What the anonymous poster above did with regards to holding onto the text from the library all semester was unexusable and unethical. It's one reason so many of us are forced to buy expensive textbooks.
I think I'm more put off about him bragging about his cheating others. THIS DOESN'T QUALIFY AS A GOOD TIP AT ALL.

Posted by Trish on February 15, 2010 1:15 AM

.................................

Everyone is entitled to an opinion. I was not cheating anyone. This was not at the college library, but at the public library. I was entitled to nine weeks rental. I had my husband rent it for the next three weeks and then I rented it again. No one else ever requested it or put a hold on it.

By the time the first six weeks had passed, the text books had arrived and students had dropped the class with some "used" text books available.
All I am saying is that here was a situation where I explored the obvious, and found it.

BTW over the years I looked to see if the book was still in the system. It has always been there on the shelf collecting dust.

How this college textbook came to be owned by the public library is a mystery. This is not the reason you are forced to buy expensive textbooks!

Posted by anonymous on February 15, 2010 10:32 AM

.................................

I used to always go check out books at the library for my classes, and for a lot of the literature (non-textbooks) there were multiple copies. What is a library for if not to borrow books?

I'm with anonymous - if you want my economics 101 text book from the library, go put your name on the waiting list!

Posted by michelle on February 15, 2010 2:41 PM

.................................

To Michelle, you say "if you want MY economics 101 text book from the library, go put your name on the waiting list!" However, one important point is that it's NOT YOUR book, it's public property and to tie up a textbook so that someone else doesn't have access and you avoid buying or renting books, is totally unethical. This is where I can see a difference between being Frugal and being downright CHEAP.

Posted by Trish on February 15, 2010 3:39 PM

.................................

Perhaps what Michelle is trying to say is that library books are meant to be borrowed. At my college, there were students who had cubicles where they kept books for the entire semester right in the library. And several times I put my name on the waiting list. You could even ask to have the borrower of the book to be contacted so to work out a co-borrow.

Posted by S.Keely on February 15, 2010 5:10 PM

.................................

I've borrowed long works of fiction that I've had to renew twice (which is the limit at our library) to finish them. Does that make me unethical? Or just a slow reader?

Posted by anonymous on February 15, 2010 5:22 PM

.................................

I think most people know the difference between being a slow reader and renewing a book more than once, than to deliberately keep it for an entire semester, which is about 4 months long.
As for being unethical, you'll have to answer your own question about that, however, if the shoe fits....

Posted by Trish on February 15, 2010 6:34 PM

.................................

So Trish, which textbook publisher do you work for? Sorry, I couldn't help myself. I really think your indignation is out of proportion to the situation. By your definition of unethical, anyone who has an overdue book is being unethical because they are preventing someone else from checking out that book. Also, college libraries usually have textbooks on reserve that are available for students to use.

Posted by Pam on February 16, 2010 9:18 AM

.................................

Last time I'll comment, as I think I've made my position clear. No, I don't work for a publisher, but I have spent hundreds of dollars on college text books for myself and my son.

Pam, you're mis-informed regarding texts available in college libraries, specifically how MANY are made available. Do you think this would even be an issue if there were enough to go around?

Also, do you know just how many colleges there are in our country and the policies for each one or did you just not go to college and are taking a blind shot at me?

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself".

So, to answer your question, I am indignant about people who cheat others and then act like they got a good deal. Apparently, from the reaction of the class, I'm not the only one with this opinion.

Posted by Trish on February 16, 2010 10:41 AM

.................................

I made the comment about being ostracized by the class because I think that secretly there are a few members of the class who don't want others to get ahead. It helps with the curve.

My borrowing the book from the local Public Library, not the college library, means that I would be staying on top of the course material and getting better grades.

I see nothing unethical with what I did. Had I checked out the book and reported it "lost" then the story would be different. The book had to be renewed in person and anyone could have put a hold on it.

Posted by anonymous on February 16, 2010 2:58 PM

.................................

Holding onto a book for lterally months at a time and you see nothing wrong with that?

You are assuming a lot when you say that you think that "secretly there are a few members of the class who don't want others to get ahead".
Sorry, but I personally don't buy your explanation.

It is a matter of ethics. For example..
we rented a restaurant for my son's Baptism and my mother in law saw a big bowl of matches on top of the piano, opened her purse wide and took handfuls of the matches to shove into her purse. (she did this with other things too at other times)

Taking sometbing that you know is meant for others to share is just not right. It's in poor taste.

I apologize to "Tiphero" for this being turned into a discussion forum, but it was a 'tip' I found an issue with.

Posted by Trish on February 16, 2010 4:49 PM

.................................

I apologize, Trish, for my comment that you felt was a cheap shot. I was trying to be humorous to lighten the mood. And yes, I guess I did generalize. The university I graduated from usually had one copy of course textbooks on reserve so students could utilize them at the library. However, to compare borrowing a book and returning it with someone stealing matches--well, I feel you are projecting your mother-in-law issues to this situation and it does not correlate. Tips are presented here for people to use or ignore as each sees fit. It is not necessary to get into a moral sparing match.

Posted by Pam on February 17, 2010 8:23 PM

.................................

Pam, apparently you missed the point of the scenario I was comparing it with, I wasn't transferring the issue, only using it as a way to show that it's in poor taste to take advantage of a free item meant to be shared.
I think you did mean to take a cheap shot in your previous post and you're doing it now in the form of a reprimand to me.

If you truly believe what you are saying, that it's not necessary to get into a moral sparing match, then you probably should have let it go
and you chose not to.

Posted by Trish on February 17, 2010 9:50 PM

.................................

Sanctimonious.

Posted by Pam on February 18, 2010 1:39 PM

.................................

This is the difference. When you check out a book from the library it is with the consent of the circulation department. Anyone in my class could have gone to the public library and put a hold on the book at any time, and I would have surrendered it.
The situation with your mother-in-law is different-no monitor.
And here is a bona fide tip: The best thing you can do when you go to a library is to check out as many books/magazines etc. as is allowed. What tells the city hall whether a library is needed is the circulation numbers. Borrow away!

Posted by anonymous on February 18, 2010 1:55 PM

.................................

-----------------------------------------

Share Your Comments:

Comments may need to be approved before they are displayed.

Comments:

Name (leave blank if you want to be anonymous):

Email Address (your email address will not be displayed):

Website URL (not required; please do not include "http://"):