The Cost of College Textbooks

Gone are the days of free textbooks, coming into class on the first day of school and having the teacher hand you a book that you write your name in and use for the rest of the school year. Now as a college student at the beginning of each new school year and semester the dreaded task of purchasing textbooks comes around. As a freshman coming into my first year of college, I was terrified at how much I would spend when I went to purchase my textbooks. After a very expensive first semester and some advice from upperclassmen and friends, I learned some very helpful hints in navigating the world of college textbooks.

Renting textbooks. Some of you are probably thinking no way I don’t want a book that has a ton of notes in the margins or has been highlighted all throughout from cover to cover. However, this is not the case with all rental textbooks. Also, if you think about it this is a great option when it comes time for purchasing books because if you do not need to keep the book for research you might use in the future renting it for the class and returning it at its conclusion saves money. This method for purchasing textbooks is also nice because you are not left with textbooks you will never need again.

Another great option for purchasing textbooks as a college student is buying them online through sites such as Amazon, Chegg, Ebooks, or any other sites that offer the buying or selling of textbooks. Using this avenue for buying or selling textbooks is effective because prices can be lower and there is the option to sell textbooks back instead of having them just sit somewhere unused. With this tool, there is the possibility to spend less money and make money that can be used to buy other textbooks in the future.

The final way of purchasing textbooks that, I learned about while attending college is borrowing or buying them from upperclassmen friends, family, or any other people you know who took the class before you. Again, with this method there is the opportunity for lower prices of textbooks as well as getting the most out of a book. Instead of one person using the book for a semester or at the most for a year multiple people can benefit from one book and even offer helpful hints and tips about how much they did or did not use it.

Growing up is a huge part of life and learning to make the jump from high school to college can sometimes be shocking. However, there are several tips and tricks to making the adjustment feel like less of a shock beginning first with the purchasing of textbooks. It should not be a stressful or unenjoyable process. It should be a necessary part of life.