<p>Art supplies can also be purchased on Craig for cheap - there’s a store there that offers everything you’ll need for about 1/2 the price of the student store and it’s only a block away from campus.</p>
<p>Textbooks for art students are either nonexistent or not necessary, but since your son is a design student, he may have books he needs to get. I’d recommend checking them out from the library (there is a whole design section on the 3rd floor I believe, and it should have everything the course asks for) or just borrowing from a friend. </p>
<p>After almost 3 years at CMU I have only bought books one semester, and that was a silly thing to do. Ever since I’ve either A) torrented, B) borrowed from the CMU library, or C) asked a friend to borrow their book for a day if I give them $5/buy them lunch.</p>