How To Save Money On Textbooks - guess post

The cost of getting an education keeps on going up and there’s no end in sight. Now, aside from dropping out or selling everything you own and living in the park while going to class, there are ways to save. One of the biggest money gobblers is the cost of books. Publishers haven’t played fair with students and have inflated prices beyond reason with the conviction that they have a ‘captive audience’ who must buy what they offer or risk failing a course. Well, here are a few ways to save on those obscenely priced textbooks.  

1.  Secondary School

The secondary market (used) is your easiest avenue to saving a few dollars. But you’ve got to start early if you hope to snag a deal. Because the used books market is the easiest, quickest option, everyone competing for a particular textbook will go here first. Find out what books you’ll need and get ’em before they are gone.

2. Compare and Contrast

If you’re committed to new textbooks only, don’t despair. All is not lost. Get on the internet and start comparing prices. Again, time is the key here and you’ve got to give yourself as much as you’ll need to find the best price around. Sites like bigwords.com or cheapesttextbooks.com are the perfect place to start.

3. E=$$ Saved

Okay, it’s the 21st Century, time to get with it. Most publishers offer electronic versions of their books, including a wide variety of textbooks. E-Books are cheaper and a heck of a lot easier to lug around. So, if you’ve already got a laptop or other handheld device, then you can put it to work for you by loading it up with the e-textbooks you need. Look into this option before you buy.  

4. Time Share

This option takes a bit of work but it can save you a lot! Instead of 5 or 10 students all buying copies of the same book, why not pitch in together and buy 1 copy all of you can share? However you don’t want to exchange savings for headaches so work out a fair schedule in advance so that everyone has the time they need with the text.

5. Rent A Grade

Sites like chegg.com or bookrenter.com allow you to rent textbooks as well as other books and at a fraction of the cost of buying. In some cases you’ll pay only a third of the cover price.  However, these books will often be missing supplementary materials like CD-Roms or workbooks. Also, you have to practice a little TLC with the books since you’ll be returning them for the next renter.

6. Education Should Be Free For All

Well, the textbooks at least can be! That’s right, Textbook Revolution, Freeload Press and other sites offer free textbooks on a wide variety of subjects. These can be hit and miss as far as your needs go. But if a professor has not assigned a particular book, you might steer them to one of the free books available and the whole class can save. It’s worth a shot.

Andrew Salmon is a freelance writer and author. He writes for LifeCover.ca and contributes posts on a variety of financial topics like life insurance as well as general money saving tips.

The ideas presented in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions and beliefs of Just Our Thoughts.