College is coming soon and even though my family seems to the government to make a lot of money, we still live in a low income neighborhood and paying for college is not gonna be easy. I saved up some money from working this summer and have decided to pay for my own books. Problem is that I have no idea which books I need for my classes. I know it’s different everywhere and I know where to get the books but I don’t know which ones I need. I don’t want to wait until the first week to find out because there might be difficulties or delays in ordering. Do teachers usually post on the syllabus? If so, then i guess i would have to wait until the first week.
That’s gonna depend on your school’s site, but they should have it on there. Maybe play around with the search function and see what you find? On my school’s website there’s a link to the necessary books on the page for each course description.
And trust me, I promise there are ways to find textbooks cheap if you look around. Most semesters I only have to pay 30-40% of the full price for all my books.
Your campus bookstore is likely to have a “textbook” tab on their web page. You’ll need to know your course number and section number. You can select from various choices (buy new, buy used, rent, digital version) with different prices.
Once you have that information, you can go online and look for inexpensive used copies. Make sure you order the correct edition - while it may not matter for some texts, problem sets and even chapters can vary substantially.
I recently went back to a state school for some classes that were mostly paid for by employer. I will share what worked for me.
When registering for classes, there was a link that told textbook requirements. The link included the ISBN.
On late notice, about the best you can do is the college bookstore or Amazon (two day shipping with prime membership.)
With more time, monitor Amazon, ebay and other online sources for that specific ISBN. I would actually register for classes as early as possible and then set up alerts on ebay so that I would be emailed when a posting was made for a specific ISBN. Occasionally, I was able to snag a deal where a student listed a book as soon as the semester ended and since few others were in the market for that specific book right then, I got it cheap. My best ebay deal ever was a $300+ textbook for $25!
Amazon may offer a 6 month trial of Amazon Prime Student where you can get free two day shipping.
Also, I had some success with international textbook editions. These are books printed and published specifically for the Asian markets. Almost always, they are printed on thinner paper, in black and white, and are softcover only. In many cases, the text, images, table, questions, etc, were exact replicas of US textbooks but at about 1/4 the cost. But you have to be careful and shop wisely as some international editions are slightly modified. For engineering books, the questions may be SI units instead english. Sometimes the text is the same but page numbering is slightly off. Also be careful because if the professor for the class wrote the text then you may end up on his/her bad side. One time, I even went as far as to buy both used and int’l copies to compare and then resold the used copy to another student after confirming they they matched. Int’l editions may also not have supplemental material, CDs, or online codes included.
I recommend checking out Abebooks in addition to all the excellent advise above. Once I got a $100 textbook for - no joke - $6 on Abebooks, only gently used (plus $3 shipping). But you’re going to want to shop around on multiple websites. for the best deals on textbooks.