In today's college environment, planning and budgeting for textbooks is a major part of the financial equation that college students must solve. Some estimates indicate that, on average, students will spend as much as $5000 for textbooks and supplies during a 4 year period. Additionally, the
GAO (Governmental Accountability Office) reports that, since 1987, college textbook prices have risen at twice the rate of inflation.
With the right information and appropriate timing, there are ways to reduce the cost of college textbooks and course materials.
1. Investigate what is available for FREE
Bartleby.com - "publishes the classics of literature, nonfiction and reference free of charge for the home, classroom and desktop of each and every Internet participant."
Textbook Revolution - "one stop shopping for students and teachers looking for free textbooks and related materials."
Freeload Press - "liberating the textbook so students from all financial backgrounds can use these important learning tools."
2. Plan ahead and buy as you go - As soon as possible, get your class schedule set and start looking for the textbooks that you will need. Know where the textbooks are available, but don't buy NEW textbooks until after you have been to class. If you find what you need used or at a discount, you may want to go ahead and get it. If you wait until you have been to class, you may find that you don't actually need all the materials listed. Also, that will give you a chance to develop relationships with people in the class and, possibly work out a plan to share materials. If you find out that you won't need something until late in the semester, this will also give you a chance to find a discount price.
One possibility for buying as you go is
iChapters, a service that sells chapters and ebooks "a la carte".
3.
Sell or trade books when you are finished with them - Many college bookstores and bookseller web sites have "buyback" or "trade in" events. You can use these events to sell your books outright to get money to go toward the next books you will need. There are a number of web sites that provide a way for students to sell used books and advertise books they have to sell.
In addition to your own campus bookstore, visit these sites to see what options you have for getting rid of your used books:
College Book Service,
Phat Campus,
half.com (ebay) ,
Textbookx.com,
Campus Book Swap
4. Share books and materials - Certainly, this is not very convenient but it is possible! Some schools are investigating and developing textbook rental programs that allow for students to have access to course materials for a fraction of the cost of purchasing them outright. If you are at a school that offers one of these programs, it's worth some time to investigate it for yourself.
5. Buy books online - If you plan ahead a little bit, you can buy college textbooks at a discount through a number of online booksellers. Most of these merchants offer textbooks at some discount and they can save you money. One of the largest online booksellers is
BookFinder.com.
BookFinder.com began in 1997 when a UC-Berkeley student, Anirvan Chatterjee, combined his love of books and computers and started his own company. Chatterjee comments,
"As passionate as I am about books and computers, I never thought I'd get to making a living doing two of my favorite things." Chatterjee developed the technology for
BookFinder.com while he was a student. Today, in addition to running the business, Chatterjee reads about 100 books a year.
Bookfinder.com deals with finding all types of books, but they are able to provide significant savings on textbooks because of the size of of their search network.
"Our secret is our huge network of bookseller partners -- over 100,000 sellers in over 50 countries, with a combined inventory of over 125 million books for sale," shares Chatterjee.
"This huge inventory means that we can find not only the deals that the textbook specialist retailers are advertising, but also alternate, older and international editions for maximum savings."
In recent years, significant attention has been paid to the textbook industry and the rising costs of textbooks. Increasingly, students and government officials are looking for ways to spend less on textbooks and course materials without jeopardizing the quality of their education. The
Make Textbooks Affordable Campaign seeks to draw attention to the issue and find solutions for students across the country.
BookFinder.com has been involved in some specific issues in the book industry. When asked how policy changes in the textbook industry would affect their business, Chatterjee responded by saying,
"The most commonly discussed proposed federal policy change would mandate greater early disclosure of textbook course lists, making it substantially easier for students to turn to BookFinder.com as an alternative to campus book stores."
Other sites that offer textbook services include:
eFollett.com ,
BigWords and
Best Web Buys
If you would like to learn more about the textbook industry and the efforts to make textbooks more affordable, visit these sites for more information:
For now, get your book list out and start shopping. There are definitely options for paying less on your way to class!
