Tips for Buying College Textbooks

The new college season is right around the corner and for most students and parents that means parting with thousands of dollars for tuition, room & board, and textbooks. Scholarships, grants and loans can help with tuition; having children live with parents during college years can help with room & board; however, not all textbooks purchases are created equal. In fact, it is possible to save over 90% off the retail price of textbooks by taking a little extra time and planning ahead.

So how can a student save 90% off the retail price? Think used! The onset of the World Wide Web has opened up new territory for the purchasing of textbooks. Auspiciously this opens the door for students to acquire their needed textbooks easily, in advance, and at a much lesser price than ever before. When buying textbooks it is important to keep four major things in mind; requirements, availability & vendors, condition, and price & purchasing.

REQUIREMENTS

You cannot buy the books you need if you do not know what is required for your class. Whether the class is brick and mortar or online it is imperative to find out what books are needed at least 2 weeks prior to the class start. This is very easy to do if the student is taking the class on-line, but can be a bit more difficult for brick and mortar instruction.

On-line universities, such as Capella and Phoenix, allow students to access what textbooks are required months before the class starts. Normally they have a virtual bookstore in which the web surfer can link to the exact class they will be taking. This link provides information on the required textbooks and other materials including title, author, version, and publisher.