by Sam E. Jones

Created on: September 07, 2010

There’s no getting around it, college textbooks cost a lot; too much in the eyes of many. But that’s a topic for another time. Luckily there are some ways to get around spending so much on college textbooks.

The first tip is to buy used of course; everyone knows that, but what everyone doesn’t know is that you need to get in early, before all the used textbooks are gone. Also, what many students might not know is that most university book stores also sell used textbook, though probably slightly higher in cost than you might pay if you buy directly from another student, you get the advantage of knowing that the book has been looked at to make sure it still has all its pages and hasn’t been too marked up.

Another way to save money on college textbooks is to work out a sharing system with others in your class. What you do is chip in with others to buy the book, then work out a schedule for who gets to use the book when. This is of course a much riskier proposition than many others simply because someone many not follow the schedule or there may be times when all of you need the book at the same time in order to finish homework or study for a test when it’s needed most. But, in other cases, it can work just fine, especially if the instructor doesn’t use the book much in his or her class, or only in ways that make it easy for many people to use the same book.

Also, there are some groups that rent books; which may or may not work for you depending on the course, how much the book is used and how reliable the group is that rents out books.

Another tip is to just not buy the book at all until you find out how much it will be needed. There are few things more irritating than laying down a ton of money on a book, only to find that the instructor pretty much ignores it for the whole semester. Again, this is a little risky because if you find the book is very necessary but the bookstore is out of them because you waited, you’re likely to have a lot of trouble getting with the program.

And finally, one approach that has worked for many students is to take the same classes as your boy or girlfriend and share your books that way. This way you can study and do your homework together at a significant cost savings, especially if you also buy used books.

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