“Photo Courtesy of Mike Starling”
With all of the expenses college students face, overpriced text books are the last things we want to deal with. Sure, it’s easy to just go to the campus bookstore to get your required texts for the semester, but there are other money saving solutions as well. Of course the college bookstore may be your best bet if you’re able to use your student account towards the purchase of textbooks. This will help you save the money that’s in your pocket. Just use this option sparingly if you’re taking student loans. Remember, you have to pay it back later. Why rack up hundreds of extra dollars in debt that you have to pay interest on if you don’t need to?
My tips and tricks for getting textbooks at a better price:
1. Always buy used if you can find them. Just skim through each book to ensure it isn’t littered with markings.
“Photo Courtesy of Mike Starling”
2. Rent instead of buying. This option is available at many college bookstores. Websites such as Chegg, Bookrenter, and, Neebo appear to be the most popular online vendors for textbook rentals. Another viable option is Textbookrentals. This site allows students to search for their required texts and compare several vendors to find the best rate. Although I don’t personally rent since most of my required texts as a Creative Writing major are novels that I may need down the road, I did check out this website to see how it works. Simply input the ISBN, Title, or Author into the search bar and click the search button. A list of books will appear. Click on the correct book and viola! A list of vendors (including Chegg, Half, and several other merchants) are displayed with various due date options as well.
“Photo Courtesy of Mike Starling”
3. Buy online. If you’re like me and prefer not to rent, check websites such as Amazon and Half. I’ve personally used Amazon many times. There are so many options to buy used or new books from a wide array of book dealers at a better price than you’ll find in most bookstores. Make sure to check the vendors’ feedback and reviews if the order isn’t being filled by Amazon. Also be sure to read about the condition of the book(s) you’re ordering.
4. ULoop - Although I haven’t had much luck finding the books I need on the site, I suspect that as ULoop continues to grow, textbooks will become easier to find on here. Keep checking each semester. When I searched through the available texts, I found that the prices seem very reasonable.
I hope these tips help and good luck to you all this semester!