Textbook Resources

Textbooks are expensive. And this just in, rain comes from clouds.

While anyone who has experienced textbook buying knows it can be a spendy enterprise, there are a lot of great resources available that may help reduce the burden.

Online Bookstores: BigWords.com offer textbook-specific shopping comparisons where all the Web's best deals are organized and visible in one place. Other sites include AbeBooks.com, valorebooks.com, textbooks.com and many others.

Textbook Rental: CampusBookRentals.com and Chegg.com offer textbook rental (as do most of the online bookstores listed above), which may be a better deal if you do not plan to keep your books for future reference.

Used Books: Amazon.com and Half.com are great places to shop for used books, as well as your local campus bookstore. Used books will be less expensive than new books in most cases. Just be sure to get the appropriate edition for your class.

Free at the Library: Check with the campus library and public library to see if you they carry your textbook. This works especially well for literature courses and upper-division courses that tend to avoid generic singular textbooks. Be sure to ask your librarian about inter-library loan, which greatly increases availability.

Other Students: Peruse the campus bulletin boards for other students selling their used books at reasonable prices. Check in with friends and classmates for good deals. Also, you may be able to share a book with another student but have a sharing plan in place from the beginning.

E-textbooks: More and more e-textbook offerings appear each day for Kindle, i-Pad, and laptop computers. Shop around online for availability and pricing. Obviously, you need access to an appropriate device to utilize these resources.

Smartphone Search: Check out the free smartphone app Bakodo. Scan the barcode of any textbook in the bookstore, and Bakodo will search the web for the best price available.

Shop around! With a vast marketplace at your fingertips via the internet, explore your options for the best price. Take into account any shipping costs, return options, resale options, and seller ratings as well.
Plan ahead and order at least two weeks before class starts. Contact your professor or academic apartment in advance to get the list of required textbooks. Create a financial budget as you may need to order books before your financial aid is available.

Get creative, but definitely get access to your textbooks. If your professor states that a book is required for the class, do not expect to do well without it. Like it or not, textbooks are part of your college investment. Get them by the first day of class.