Textbooks: Don’t Spend All Your Summer’s Savings In One Place!

Until the digital revolution takes full grasp of our literary lives, you’ll still be buying textbooks this semester, next semester, and the semester after that. While many schools do offer downloadable textbooks, those regular books aren’t getting any cheaper or any lighter. In fact, while they’re a small expense compared to the cost of college classes and boarding in a dorm room, they’re a significant expenditure, and one you can pay too much for.

But before you see your summer’s savings turned into a single history book, plan out how you’ll purchase those books. Most first-year students head out and buy every textbook for every class right from their school bookstore—that’s a common rookie mistake. While your official school bookstore probably has the largest selection of books, shop around. Many schools, especially schools with a more urban campus, have textbook vendors that offer better prices and a different selection of books. 

Check those out and shop around. It seems your official school bookstore will always have the most expansive selection, but the other bookstores in the area are definitely worth a look. Some bookstores also offer the ability to rent textbooks, which isn’t a bad idea. It’s true you might revisit an old textbook if it involves your major or a field that interests you. But if it doesn’t, chances are you won’t crack it open again ever once the semester ends.

Don’t forget to look online, too. All sorts of sites offer new and used textbooks, and comparison shopping online is easier and more convenient. Don’t forget to look online, too. All sorts of sites offer new and used textbooks, and comparison shopping online is easier and more convenient.

Aside from the bookstore on campus, that school library is another resource you shouldn’t pass up. Most if not all textbooks for a class can be borrowed from your school’s library. Some books often can only be borrowed for a certain time period, such as a few hours, however, so be aware of that. Either way, borrowing from the library is free, and you can’t beat that! If you have any friends in the same class as you, share a textbook with them. You can each pay half and use it as needed. Deciding who gets custody in the end shouldn’t be too difficult—in all honesty, you probably won’t be longing to keep a book titled Level 3 Statistical Modeling With Differential Equations when you’re done with the class.

No matter your major or planned major, there will be plenty of textbooks. Buy the ones that you think will be worth keeping and even be interesting. But for the dozens of others, rent them, borrow them, or at least buy them used. Crisp, clean pages aren’t always worth a couple extra hundred dollars.