Cutting Down on College Costs: Buying Textbooks

Next to tuition itself, textbooks will be a pretty substantial expenditure during your college career. Buying textbooks to support a 14 credit class schedule can get expensive. Luckily, there are ways to curb textbook costs so they don't engulf the majority of your budget.

• Rent. Renting your books is a way cheaper method of getting textbooks. Many textbook stores rent out books to be used for the semester. When renting books, make sure you have them back on time or else the store will end up charging you for the full price of the book (at Michigan State, all rented books are due the last day of finals).
• Buy used. If you're like me and don't have a credit card, buying used is your next best option. Used books may be more worn out than new books but they are often way cheaper. At first glance they may seem overpriced but wouldn't you rather pay $150 for used than $400 for the new book? Another positive to buying used is you own the book. If you own the book, you can make notes in the book for referencing later. However, this may damage the resale value.
• Share books. If you and your friend are in the same class, you may be able to buy a book together and share it. Just coordinate when to switch it between yourself and a few friends. Also, you might be able to buy a textbook from a friend who had the class last semester. I heard from a friend that MSU has a textbook exchange group on Facebook that helps students give books to each other.
• Buy Online. Many online stores, such as Amazon, will have the textbooks for cheaper than the stores around campus. However, some books have an online component that is necessary for the class (My Spanish class was like this!) and Amazon didn't offer it. So be very careful when buying some of your books from online.

These three tips will assist you in curbing your college textbook costs.

Thanks for reading!

~Anthony