College Invasion Today

Completing your course requirements and meeting your college’s academic standards are major challenges enough. Finding the means to afford what you need to accomplish a course requirement, such as your textbooks, is another big hurdle.

College textbooks are not just heavy to lug around, they’re also pocket-heavy. Every year, students spend more than a thousand dollars for brand-new textbooks. This means that students easily spend at least 5% of their annual college expenses on textbooks alone. Considering all the other expenses, spending more than a thousand dollars a year just for textbooks is very impractical. But you can cut spending for these course essentials. Here’s how:

Buy used books.

Cut down textbook costs by buying used ones. Many students would review their syllabi in advance, determine which textbooks they need, and head off to the campus bookstore to search for used versions even before the semester begins. It’s not a bad idea. The only problem with this strategy is that many students do the same. Hence, the demand for used textbooks could easily exceed the supply. It can really be frustrating to wait in a long line, only to find out when it’s your turn that all the used books you need have just been bought by another student, who was just lucky enough to arrive just a few minutes ahead of you. From time to time, classmates and/or roommates can be sources of used books. You may want to check out the campus mailing lists or ad boards for postings by other students selling used books.

Find discount books online.

If you have no luck at all in securing your own used copy at your campus book sales, but you have a debit card or a credit card, then all is not lost. You may still find old copies of all sorts of college books being sold in eBay, particularly Half.com— where you may find copies of textbooks you’re looking for selling at just half the price. Remember, though, that buying online has its drawbacks as well: additional shipping charges, possibly longer delivery time (or worse, the danger of your book getting damaged or lost in transit), and potentially fraudulent transactions that will leave you with no money and no book.

Borrow your professor’s copy.

If you still feel the need to spend even less, you may also get in touch with your professor and inquire about the required textbooks. Some professors leave reserved copies of the book in the library for any student who wishes to borrow it. In this case, you won’t even have to spend at all. However, you must expect that the book won’t be available to you at all times.

Buy your own—then resell it.

For the sake of convenience, it’s still better to have your own copy. But more than this, having your own textbook gives you the option to sell it after the semester. Even if you sell it at, say, just 20 percent of the original price, you still get some of your money back. Assuming that you used your textbook well in your course, you’ve doubly profited from the money and the knowledge. And think that by reselling your book, you help pass on the torch of knowledge to other students who also couldn’t afford to spend a lot on textbooks.

Tags: College textbooks, discount books, eBay, used books

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 7:50 am and is filed under manage your finances . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.