For those of you with kids already in college, will you kindly share any tricks you’ve found to saving money on textbooks. In my day, our only option was “used” textbooks at the student bookstore. There have got to be more options nowadays and I’d like to get a little knowledge so I’m not scrambling to help with sourcing textbooks last minute.
TIA
I know some kids get there textbooks on amazon. My son actually rents his from his college. This costs much less than buying.
Amazon rentals seem to be the best bet for D’s needs so far. Sometimes she can buy a used edition for less than a rental. On only one instance has her bookstore come in as the cheapest option. But shop around-we use aggregate sites like Valore Books, which will point you to many sources for the book in question. We’ve bought used at Abe Books, Ebay, Textbook Rush, and others. We’ve also rented from Chegg in addition to Amazon. We also once found an international edition that cost much less than the American one-the only difference was the cover. I say “we” because D does the initial checking and turns it over to me, since H and I pay for the books. I am a whiz at finding a good deal and consider it a challenge to get the best prices I can.
Lots of online sources for used textbooks, and web sites that search them all at once. I probably can’t link but if you google you’ll find Abebooks etc.
D’s best option by far was on campus - buying (or even borrowing) from other students directly.
Rent when possible. Google the ISBN number to compare prices. We did this all through high school (private school) and kids continued to do this in college. In classes where the syllabus has a ton of books listed, my kids found it better to wait to see if they actually got to the book before buying or renting it. This is especially important in humanities classes. Of course, those books don’t cost as much as the ones for STEM classes!
yes Rental from school or Amazon and actually buying some from Amazon – now if only we could find the same savings on those darn ACCESS codes
The best deal my kids get is to have someone give them the books. It really happens all the time if they are friendly with others in their majors, dorms, sororities, team. Next choice is the school library, which should have a copy of every book; it may not be able to be checked out for a long period or even checked out at all, but can be used in the library. Sometimes the teachers will have extra copies.
Online is the next best, either rental or purchasing.
Amazon secondary marketplace. Buy the books used and resell to Amazon after the semester. Often comes out cheaper than renting. There is a small amount of risk, especially if an edition is a couple of years old (then, rent). This (or renting) doesn’t work when books have codes for homework
Renting text books has become very popular. My kids have always saved money by getting used books. Also, check the dorms at around check-out time. There are a lot of text books left in the halls and trash cans - shocking, I know, but true. One may find a text he/she needs next semester, but you can always sell whatever you find discarded to the bookstore for credit. Often, one can find needed texts in the reference section of the college library (or local public library), but often there is a waiting lists. Also, Amazon Prime can save students some money.
D rents many textbooks, but usually we can find a cheaper used book for purchase on Amazon or Ebay (which links to other sites). It’s also possible to get an International version of a book for much, much less. You just have to be careful that it’s the same exact content. The covers are always different, but usually the content is the same. Problem sets are sometimes different so it’s important to read the fine print. D does not like digital rentals that her school now has.
We would check school’s online links for the course books a month or so before the semester began, then use ISBN number to search for cheapest used price (or new, if required an access code). Both kids’ colleges online bookstore showed pricing at other online sellers so we could compare the price. Sometimes, the used price at the college bookstore worked out being cheaper than purchasing from an online retailer and shipping.
Digital copies of books are cheaper, but neither of my kids liked the electronic only access to their texts.
Hard to do the first semester because you want your kid to have everything in hand, but my kids learned to wait until class starts to get the book(s), as sometimes what is listed isn’t really required after all and/or an older edition than listed will be fine.
In a pinch, the library will usually keep copies of required textbooks for students to use or borrow. This can cover that first few days if the student opts to wait and see what’s really needed.
See if the university has a book exchange where you can buy books from previous students. Otherwise, ask around and see if someone who took the class last semester is willing to sell their book.
This only works for humanities and social science classes, though. STEM classes have those darn access codes, and there’s no workaround for those, especially if they can only be bought with the newest edition of the book.
We never rent any text books as I found it to be about the same cost as buying used. So we just buy used and sold it afterward for my D1 the first couple years. Then I found out I have nothing to claim the tax credit as my D got full tuition covered by scholarships and grant. So we just bought new textbooks and claim the tax credit in full amount.
My kid in a STEM major who was planning on grad school and knew she would need to pass a GRE subject test in her area bought copies of her major textbooks (used sometimes). Rented others. Her small school did have older students who would sometimes just hand down their textbooks to younger friends, and I think maybe they had a website or email way to buy sell books they had, too?
Not universally true. D never needed an access code for her science or math classes, and she had many. She bought the books used, or from another student.
Both of my college kids school bookstores are Barnes & Nobles, what I found is to NEVER buy from them. Why? Because their website always shows ALL the options whether they have those options available or not, New, used, Rent New, Rent Used…and you think you are selecting the cheapest option, ex buying used. But then find out you get the old switch when you go to pick up your books and get new because they have no used. Was told the website isn’t updated in real time and doesn’t know the inventory. So I went that route just one time, my oldest first semester, then I learned!
We have student amazon prime and usually always rent from Amazon. What we’ve found is the book prices go up the closer you get to classes and as the supply goes down. We always rent about 28 days out because they have a 30 day return policy, so if you get to class and the book is not needed you can send it back for free and get a refund. If you wait till the 1st day of class and find out you need the book either A. it’s sold out and back ordered, or B. the price is higher than it was a month ago!
If we do have to buy a book we use this site to find who has it cheapest, we also use the same site to see who we can sell it back to for the most https://www.bookfinder.com/?ref=bf_uu_hd_2.
You’re smart to be asking these questions up front, good luck!!
Ds first semester books totaled less than $100.00
The syllabus for three of her classes stated earlier versions of the text were acceptable and the online code/key wasn’t required. So we/she went to a “Half Price Books” in our city that sits between a few local Universities. She found three of her main textbooks for $10.00 each. She was forced to purchase a book for one class but she joined a “Student buy/sell” group and then hustled to find someone who was selling a used version.
Amazon, Abebooks, and inter-library loans for short term book requirments. Our ChemE major never buys/rents books until the semester starts because so many books are optional and unnecessary.
We often find good prices on ebay – especially when searching by title. Students don’t always know to list books with ISBN numbers.