We all know the truth: don't buy or rent from your school's bookstore unless it is absolutely necessary—but what happens after that? Well I'm here to tell you how I have been keeping my textbook budget under $100.
1. Wait until the week before/during syllabus week to obtain any books.
Although there may be a list at the bookstore of what you need to get, it's better to wait until you have the syllabus to know if your professor will actually use the textbook. You can also rent them the week before so you have them on hand in case you get one of those strict professors that start right away.
However, I made the mistake of renting a month before classes so I could "get ahead" in my first semester of college. I walked into my first class and my professor said, "The book is helpful to have as a resource, but I won't be using it nor will I be testing from it." Since it was over a month, I couldn't return it for a full refund. Thank you, professor.
2. Check your library's database.
Before you search up the option to even rent your textbook, you should check your library. Salve Regina University's library is great because it runs on the HELIN catalog, which means it is connected to almost every university library in the state of Rhode Island. You can have those books delivered in 24 to 48 hours!
Borrowing books from the library has helped me so much that I only spent $80 in renting books last semester. However, your database may only have one copy available so request fast. You may also get a limit on how many times you can renew your request so make sure you get the book in a timely matter.
3. Renting 101
The two websites I rent from are Chegg and Amazon. To help make the process easier for price comparison, I use SlugBooks. This website is super helpful and every college student should use it. You type in the name of the book and different companies come up with their prices so you can compare where to rent from. They even have the retail price—and sometimes it's cheaper than renting.
Other websites come up as well, such as Valore and Half.com, but I tend to stay away from those because all I've seen for them are really bad reviews. I like to stick with Chegg and Amazon. Chegg will send you free samples of stuff and maybe even a Red Bull. Also, if you haven't used your student prime trial yet on Amazon, you definitely should in order to take advantage of the two-day shipping.
4. Access Codes
Access codes are the worst things to buy when it comes to textbook shopping because of how expensive they are. You can't rent used codes like you can with books so you have to buy it completely new. Almost all the time at the bookstore, Amazon and Chegg, you have to buy the access code with the book even though most access codes have an e-book included. So what do you do? You buy directly from the company.
For my applied calculus class, the access code came with the book and it cost well over $300. I laughed and walked out of the bookstore so fast because that price was just ridiculous. Instead, I did my research and bought the code directly from the company's online store. It only cost me $60, 80 percent less than what I would have had to pay.
I hear students complain about how much textbooks cost and the ridiculous amount of money they allow themselves to spend. It's almost heartbreaking. I hope this makes your whole process of borrowing, renting, buying, and crying just that much easier. Hopefully you'll have enough money left over to start paying your loans!
