So, you just start college and go to the bookstore to buy your books.
"OH MY GOD! I didn't know they were going to be that much!"
That's what happened to me my first quarter in college.
Over the last year and a half, I've learned a few things about buying college textbooks. Here's a few tips from me!
1. Check with your professors about a month before your classes start. Find out the ISBN numbers for the textbooks, titles, etc.
2. Check with other classmates. Most college students are always in need of money, so when the bookstore reaches its limit for book buyback, inquire around and make an offer...more than likely you'll get a really good deal, and your classmate(s) will have a little extra spending money.
3. Check online auction sites. I've literally saved $$$HUNDREDS$$$ of dollars buying my books on eBay - new and used over the last year.
4. If you have no choice but to buy your books from your bookstore, get them early so you can get the used ones for cheaper. On average, for me anyway, used books are about $30-$70 cheaper than the NEW ones.
Overall, it's uaually MUCH quicker and easier to buy your books in the bookstore, but if you're looking to save money, it is DEFINATELY possible. Just look around - especially online. There are books everywhere!
Books at the school book store are deffiantely expensive. my Intro to Criminal Justice book was $170 alone! lucky for me that was my most expensive book, but unlucky for me, it was the book of the class that i dropped because it wont transfer for me for any credits after changing my mojor! So yed, buy books online or from other people if you can. I know i will be selling some of my books online!
Yeah. I have gotten many of my textbooks on-line from either Amazon.com or ebay's half.com. It really does save you a lot of money. A couple of times I found the teacher's edition to math text-books so that I didn't have to buy a solutions manual as well. I heard rumors that the auction sites are going to be more careful about selling teacher edition books since high school students may use the same books and their teachers might not think they are maure enough to have access to solutions manuals. I know that in a pinch, the solution manual can be a real life-safer, but as a high school senior, I think that I am mature enough not to cheat.
I am forced to buy a couple books at the book-store each quarter simply because they are not carried any where else, or it is imperative that I have the identical edition to the rest of the class.
However, especially fall quarter I buy all of my text books from amazon, usually after christmas shopping my family has earned a large number of amamzon gift certificates, and when I'm getting ready to go back to school is shortly before their expiration, so not only are the books cheaper in the first place from amazon, but they become even less expensive.
I've found perhaps the largest disapointment with my University's bookstore however is their buy-back deal. Students recieve "up-to" half the price of the book back, and books will be bought back ONLY if they will be used the next quarter. So in departments (such as the one I'm in) where the books wouldn't be used again until the next academic year, the book-store won't even buy them back from you.
You can also see if there's another bookstore next door to see if you have your textbook for cheaper prices, too.