Do we need to have the textbooks before school starts?
@orchdork11, many students wait until their classes meet for the first time. Yes, you can often access each prof’s syllabus with textbook selections and secure them ahead of time, but my son (a junior engineering student) has found that these lists sometimes change, or that one or two items may be required for a class while others are optional. Usually, if you have all your books by the end of that first week (called “Syllabus Week”), you’re good. Also look at renting/buying used through Amazon.
At the NSC, we were told that, if you purchase the books from Barnes & Noble, you can return anything that is unopened from its original seal. Then again, those are new books. You could probably save a lot by finding used. We are actually still trying to figure this out ourselves.
My D has saved tons of $ renting college textbooks from Amazon!
My kids always waited until they went to class, then ordered depending on the class. Your student can get free amazon prime (for 6 months) so if you time it right that will be two semesters of book shipments. If you have multiple kids going to college you can work it to get a few free double semesters of free amazon prime (free 2 day ship) - that’s what we did. Then you get 1/2 off the following years.
Some books will only be available in CS - professor created ‘books’ they will tell you where to buy them. Some list books that you don’t need to buy (nor read). If you buy in advance used, often they can’t be returned - so most students wait. The professors do NOT expect you to have the books on Day 1, also most books are available in the library for reference loan (check with the library). A word of advice - look ahead to see if the book is a double semester book - if so, it often better to buy it. Penalties of not returning rental books are high, so if you think your child may not return it on time or in good condition, buy used instead.
If you are not a pure visual learner, you might want to avoid online books ( My kids are kinesthetic learners - meaning: hands on/demonstrative, the third option is auditory learner). If you don’t know what type of learner you are (you can be a combo) - when you do well on a test or a speech, how did you study? Read over & over, notecards/highlighting or say it out loud over and over to memorize. That will help you understand what type of learner you are ( visual, kinesthetic or auditory), then you can better purchase the right type of textbook choice & study techniques. My kids books are filled with side notes & highlighting, so renting is not an option for them. However, ironically people did re-buy their used books (hmm, highlighted by a student who got an A in the course?!) and got offers for their flashcards they made.