Cannot afford my textbooks right now.

I start my first day at community college in 9 days, and I recently look at my colleges bookstore online to see what textbooks I would need for my classes. I would need a textbook for my General Psychology class, and my Visual Arts class. The Visual Arts textbook isn’t too much of a deal because I can rent it for somewhere between $20-$30, but my Psychology book is another story. It says what is required is the newest edition that is bundled with a Printed Access Card. Which I don’t really know what that is btw. But the price is about $120. There’s no way I’ll be able to afford that any time soon. I already owe nearly $400 for my tuition that I have to pay for this semester, along with supplies and gas money and other things. So adding another $120 to the bill is going be insanely difficult. Especially if you include it with the other textbook I have to buy as well. I also looked up prices for that book on other sites, and it’s all roughly the same price. And renting it will only bring the price down by like $10. So I have no clue what I can do. Have any of you ever been in a similar situation? And if so, what did you do? Or even if you haven’t been in the situation, but you still have good suggestions, what should I do? Thanks!

The books you need for your classes should be available at the college library. You can go to the library to study. Usually they aren’t available to check out and take home but are available to use while you are at the library.

It is important to have the books. I would start advertising your availability to make some money by babysitting, yardwork, one time garage clean out, etc. the costs you are describing are not large compared to what others pay and you will probably end up paying more for future semesters. Do you have any items in your basement that you could sell?

Try to find your books online through a 3rd party retailer.My daughter’s bigger textbooks are generally $150-$200 each. I was able to find her physics book brand new on eBay for $70. I rented a digital copy of her art history book for $50 for a year.

Check with the professor to see if you actually need the access code for the class.

Also, try Chegg. My daughter found a few good prices.

When you need an access code and a textbook, it usually OK to buy them separately. You won’t find many discounts on the access code, but you might be able to find a deal on the textbook.

Ask the professor if a previous edition of the book is OK for the reading assignments as long as you have the proper access code. Sometimes that works.

Obvs, you’ll have to add up the cost of the access code plus the book to make sure it saves you anything.

Check the facebook group for that specific school as there should be someplace students are buying and selling privately. Also some books are in pdf online. And always verify an access code is required by the professor by emailing them in advance.

If the access code is required, there’s nothing I can do. The access code is insanely expensive. So if I’m being forced to pay lots of money just to do assignments that could easily be given to me on paper, that’s going to be a massive issue.

Email the professor and explain your situation and also the financial aid office. They might be able to print out what you need. A lot of schools do post homework online also. Sometimes the books actually is not needed.

There usually is no way around the access code as assignments and exams are online.

Buying books and access codes and parking passes and paying required fees are all part of the cost of going to college. Tuition is only the first cost. If you haven’t taken out the student loans, you can still do that through your financial aid office.

Ask the prof via email. Explain the you are struggling to come up with book money. Is this edition with the access code required?

See what they say. If they say yes, and you can’t find a cheaper option, consider dropping the class and taking something else.

Have you taken your federal loans already?

As far as student loans, I’ve been trying to put off applying for student loans unless I really needed to, because I didn’t want to owe a lot of money in the long run. But that can definitely be put into consideration if need be. I just don’t know how long it would take to get all of that situated, especially if the textbook and access code are things that I need very soon. This is my first year ever of college, so I don’t know how these things work. I have emailed my professor earlier about it, so I just have to wait for a response. He seems like a really good guy and has been heavily praised on ratemyprofessor, so hopefully he’s going to have other options for me. I’m also glad the idea of me dropping the class and taking something else was brought up, because I was actually wondering if I would be able to do that.

Can you share the cost with a friend in the class?

Also see if there is a copy of the book in the library. Talk to the professor about options.

See if any you know is taking the class…see i fyou can take pictures of the book with your phone at first.

See if you can rent a used copy of the book.

See ifyou can borrow it from an upper classman.

Find and post something on a Facebook group for the school. If you get the access code (see if you can buy online) do you actually need the book?

The book and access codes are two different things. You need both.

Really, you have to decide if you want to have the book all semester, if you need to be able to study at 2 am or can use the copy in the library when you are on campus. Sometimes you can check out the textbook, but often you can’t. Students who have the right materials do better, be it a calculator, a text book, paints. There are cheaper ways to get those supplies (library, borrow, rent, buy used) but you do need them and the sooner the better. You don’t want to get to October and realize you need a book, or that you had assignments due through the access code site and you didn’t do them.

I ordered my daughter’s books, used, through amazon.

The cheapest I could have gotten in the school bookstore, through a combination of renting and buying used, was $329.40.

Buying them used through amazon cost $140.92

And every one was in perfect shape.

If that’s not a good idea, hit the library at school to see what you can get there

Then determine your budget and get as many as you can.

Finally, speak to the prof/ someone in financial aid to see how to bridge the gap.

I feel for you because I was in the same situation last semester. NOT fun. I wound up paying tuition at the last minute and charging all my books to accounts. I bought them at the bookstore, so high prices, but I was in a rut. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you were sure you could get the $ in time to pay the new bill. Also, for one of my courses, most of the readings we did in class I found online, so I returned all of those books and saved around $70-$80. Hang in there.

Used and rented books don’t always have the access codes so that is something you need to be careful about.

I would talk to the professor.