How to Save on Textbooks?

Why buy used textbooks. First
Why buy used textbooks. Second
Why buy used textbooks. Third
Why buy used textbooks. Third

Rent Your College Textbooks

If you don't want to spend much on textbooks and are only willing to pay for the things that are 100% essential for your education, the best way out is to rent textbooks. Surely, sometimes you can flip a book without losing much on the difference, and sometimes you can even get a decent profit, as some textbooks increase in value. However, the safest course is paying only a fraction of the purchase price and getting rid of the book at the end of the semester.

If you don't plan on putting the book on the shelf to show off or it's unlikely to be useful in your future career, you don't need to buy it. You can simply rent it. The best thing about rentals is that you can pay for a certain period during which you can use the book, and you can also choose the most suitable period for your course (a month, a semester, etc.). If you need the book for longer than you originally thought, you can extend the rental period or purchase it (and maybe sell it back later!).

Buy an International Edition

Imagine that you come to a bookstore and see two textbooks: one with a black-and-white cover and another with a colored one. The latter is much more expensive; however, the information contained inside both of them is almost exactly the same. Which one would you end it buying if you can't afford to throw away thousands of dollars on books? Of course, the cheaper black-and-white one! The trick is that you have just chosen an international edition. They may be of a slightly worse quality, but it's the quality of knowledge that counts, isn't it?

Get an Old Edition

Every year publishers fill the university bookstore shelves with the newest editions. However, if you're studying mathematics, for example, it's hardly possible that everything we know about calculus can dramatically change in a few months' time. Why buy the newest textbook fresh off the print if the old ones still serve their purpose perfectly well? (Well, unless your professor really, really wants you to do the exercises at the end of this one chapter that wasn't present in the previous edition.) So your job is to make sure that the previous edition is acceptable for your course, and then—you're free to go and buy it (and maybe not get broke this time).

Tip: If you end up needing something from the recent edition, you can look it up in the library or ask to check it out in a friend's copy.

Also, check out our Top Deals to find the cheapest textbook options!

Updated on November 8th, 2022