Tips and tricks from a college senior
So college books are REALLY expensive. If you have not figured this out by now…whoa. There are many options out there for college’s books to buying, renting, ebooks, etc. I will be talking mostly about book buying since that is my favorite option.
Your college most likely will be promoting you to buy books though their bookstore. Well, that is great if you want to pay $200 for a book that you could buy on Amazon for $40. I am not totally against buying your books through your school. Buying your books through the school will guarantee that you get the correct book and on time. This is a convenience that is super important to a lot of people. Also, you may not have a choice if your school prints out their own books and you can only buy it at your school bookstore.
Well, I like personally like to live on the edge and buy my books online. I know scandalous! I take the risk my books may be a little late. Usually professors understand, but you would have to talk to them about this. I type the ISBN number into Google and press “I’m feeling lucky” and usually I am. Amazon is a great place to check out and so is half.com.
If you can find the international version of the book that’s even cheaper. The cover will most likely be different but the content and ISBN number is the same. Ask the professor if the edition matters. Older editions of the book are always cheaper. Most schools always want you to get the latest version but there is not much difference from edition 3 to edition 4. Contact your professor if it would be okay for you to have a different edition.
Another idea is buy books off students who have already taken the class. You will get the book cheaper and the other student will get more money back then selling it back to the bookstore (well that’s how it works at my school). Us poor college students have to stick together.
I also like to wait to the first day of class until I purchase my books. Some professors may have listed that you need to buy a book but when you get to class the first day they tell you that “No you don’t need to read the book. I give you all the notes through power point and all of my test questions will be from the power point” Ouch.
So use you resources and shop around for your books. You will mostly likely be saving yourself and your parents a pretty penny.