Whether you’re starting your first year or you’re a returning student to university or college, you’ve probably figured it out already. Student life is expensive. Between tuition, transportation, housing, groceries, and general spending, there’s a lot to balance. Every experienced post-secondary student can probably share tips and secrets they’ve picked up along the way on how to cut costs.
One of the biggest expenses every year for a student is textbooks. Every course you take requires at least one (and that’s a pretty low estimate). Multiply that with all the courses you’ll be taking throughout the entire year. Then there’s a course pack (a collection of academic journal articles and handouts) that many courses also require. Add this all together and times it by however many years you plan to be in the post-secondary world. It can get pretty overwhelming. To help lessen the load, here are five money-saving tips when it comes to textbook buying.
Go Online!
We buy music, books, tickets, clothes, shoes, and basically everything else online- why should text books be any different? Most schools have their own inter-school book exchange website which students can easily go onto and find people selling for their course. Amazon is another great way to find used textbooks for much cheaper. Another option is to use general classified sites like Kijiji. Whichever option you choose, make sure you do your homework before buying. Find your course syllabus before school starts (many profs put the syllabus online first), and take a look at how much a new textbook costs so you have an idea of how much you want to spend on your used one.
Used Book Stores On or Near Campus
If you’re not comfortable with the idea of buying a textbook online, most schools have their own used book store right on or near campus. Make sure you go early in the year (even before school starts if you know what books you need) because there will be a lot of students in the same boat looking for the same textbooks as you. Beat the rush! Something to keep in mind: get the right edition! Some of the older editions of textbooks are cheaper, but the professor may have a reason for choosing the newer edition. Email your prof early to see if it would be okay to get the older one.
Sharing is Caring!
If you’re in a class with a friend or a group of friends you already know, it could be worth it to coordinate a study group together and share the cost of a textbook, or if there are multiple texts you need, get each person to buy a different book. This way, not only do you save money, you have an automatic study group! If you aren’t in a class with anyone you know though, this could still work! Most students are pretty open to anything that’s going to save them money so on the first day, scan the class and see if you can get one or two people to go in on some books with you. An added bonus? It’s a great icebreaker and you’ll get to meet some new people in the process.
Check your School Library
Most school libraries will have the newest version of class textbooks. However, you may not be able to sign them out and will have to study at the library. Even if you can, textbooks will be in high demand during exam times.
Online Versions of Textbooks
Some courses offer an online version of the textbook at a discounted price. You can download the textbook to your cell phone, laptop or tablet device. The thing to keep in mind about online versions of textbooks is that they are usually not shareable and require a special reader to open the file. This prevents people from pirating textbooks. You should also take into consideration that you cannot sell this online version of the textbook when you are done the course.
And one last tip, if you’re not overly attached to your books, keep them relatively clean and free of highlighting or writing so that once you’re done with them, you can go ahead and sell them for some extra cash. Every little bit makes a difference!
