College
How to Cut Your Textbook Costs in Half -- or More
Students have plenty of more-affordable options than the campus bookstore.
August 30, 2011
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By Deanna Pan
Good news for college students willing to do some homework even before arriving on campus for the fall semester: While the costs of tuition, fees, and room and board are rising, textbook spending is on the decline thanks to innovations in textbook publishing. A recent survey by Student Monitor reports textbook spending is down 10% from the 2009-2010 academic year. You can save even more, and we’ll show you how.
As of last July, colleges are required by law to identify required course materials, complete with retail prices and ISBN numbers, on their online class schedules. Armed with this shopping list before your arrival on campus, you can use price-comparison Web sites to beat the deals at your campus bookstore. Just type your textbooks’ ISBN numbers into sites such as BigWords.com, CampusBooks.com and AllBookstores.com. They’ll scan multiple online retailers to reveal the lowest-price new, used, rental, and digital textbooks. We prefer CampusBooks.com for its simple navigation and no-frills format. All three price-comparison sites will redirect you to your textbook’s original vendor, where you’ll complete your purchase.
If you purchase new or used hardcopy textbooks, you can sell them back at the end of the semester to the highest bidder using BigWords.com, CampusBooks.com and BookScouter.com to compare offers.
The most cost-effective approach may be to buy used, maintain the book in good condition, and sell it back when you’re done. For example, you might pay $54.04 for a used copy of The Art of Public Speaking (tenth edition) at Half.com and then sell it later to CKY Books for $27.50 -- for a net cost of $26.54.
Rent and return
Should you choose to rent, you won’t be able to sell your books back at the end of the term. But if you’re penny-pinching now, renting might make the most “cents.” You’ll pay about half the listing price of a new textbook at CampusBookRentals.com, CollegeBookRenter.com and BookRenter.com; all three sites offer free delivery. The rental fee depends on the length of your rental (so summer-school students will pay less than students studying for a quarter or semester). When your rental period is up, you simply return your books on their dime.
Tip: Make sure your rental’s due date is after your finals. Otherwise, if you miss your deadline, BookRenter and CollegeBookRenter will automatically charge you a 15-day extension fee. After a 15-day grace period, CampusBookRentals will also charge you for an extension -- about 20% of the price of your rental.
Go digital
If you prefer your iPad or PC to ink and paper, take advantage of electronic textbooks, which are often about half as expensive as their printed counterparts. You read them via a Web browser or a downloaded e-reader app on your computer or mobile device.
The NOOKstudy eReader application, available as a free download at BarnesandNoble.com, lets you read, highlight, annotate and print a limited number of pages from your rented or purchased e-textbooks on your PC or Mac. You can access your NOOKstudy e-textbooks on up to two computers -- with or without an internet connection. Amazon’s Kindle also offers e-textbooks for purchase or rent for PCs and Macs in addition to Kindle readers and mobile Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows devices. You can access your Kindle textbooks on up to six different devices.
For increased accessibility across multiple platforms, try CourseSmart.com e-textbook rentals, which you can read anytime you’re online. You can access most CourseSmart e-textbooks for a year through any browser and via free mobile apps for Apple and Android. You can also download your e-textbooks for offline use and still take advantage of CourseSmart’s note-taking, highlighting and search functions on your computer or iPad.
Devotees of the iPad should consider downloading the free Inkling app for bigger savings and even cooler features. Inkling digital textbooks (a limited inventory of 50 or so popular titles for undergraduate, business and medical students), available at Inkling.com, can be purchased in full or in installments for as cheaply as $1.99 per chapter. If you do wind up purchasing every chapter throughout the course of a semester, you’ll never pay more than the full Inkling list price. Inkling textbooks are also equipped with interactive, multimedia bonuses, such as quizzes, related pictures, video and audio, as well as a “social learning network” that lets you communicate with your peers.
You can even rent your e-textbooks from popular e-book retailers, such as Amazon.com, CourseSmart.com and Barnes and Noble. Unlike physical rentals, you won’t have to race to return your textbook; your license will simply expire and your account will lose its access.
Sample price check
We searched for the best prices for The Art of Public Speaking (tenth edition), a popular communication textbook at Ohio State University, which runs $132.35 new and $99.25 used at the campus Barnes & Noble. Here’s how our textbook deals stack up:
HARD COPY
New: $71.20 free shipping (redirected to bookbyte.com from CampusBooks.com)
Used: $54.04 plus $3.99 shipping (redirected to Alibris.com from CampusBooks.com)
Rental: $34.99 for 115 days ( $3.99 shipping, redirected to RentText.com from AllBookstores.com)
DIGITAL
PC or Mac digital: $59.75 for 180 days (no shipping, redirected to BarnesandNoble.com from AllBookstores.com and CampusBooks.com)
Tablet digital: $68.25 for 180 days ” (no shipping, redirected to CourseSmart.com from CampusBooks.com), $6.99 per chapter (Inkling.com)
BUY BACK OFFERS
New condition: $32.18 (free shipping, redirected to bluerocketbooks.com from CampusBooks.com)
Good condition: $27.50 (free shipping, redirected to CKYbooks.com from BookScouter.com)
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Reader Comments (30)
Posted by: Bryce Maddock at 07/28/2010 12:55:53 PM
Great article Jennifer. This will be a big help for all those headed back to campus this year.
Posted by: Toby at 07/28/2010 01:14:47 PM
I wish I'd known that in college... I would have saved a lot of money!
Posted by: Jed at 07/28/2010 01:24:13 PM
Interesting. This is very useful. I can't imagine how much I've lost!
Posted by: Grant at 07/28/2010 01:35:44 PM
I always spend sooo much on books, and some of them I barely use. These sites are definitely going to be bookmarked on my comp, I can't wait to save some money!
Posted by: Blaine at 07/28/2010 01:45:07 PM
I spent WAY too much money last semester. Thanks for the tips, they're helpful for us poor college students.
Posted by: Liz at 07/28/2010 03:30:23 PM
I found a really great alternative to saving money on textbooks. Of course there are a few options online but this site bigwords.com has been very successful for me for years. I used it when I was a freshmen in college and used it to save money on my textbooks. They searched all the online textbook retailers and rental sites to find me the best deal possible. It was so easy and effortless. I'd suggest anyone to check it out.
Posted by: Jim at 07/28/2010 03:38:35 PM
The only thing cooler than being able to shop around for a cheaper price on books is turning my brown paper shopping bags into book covers, then drawing all kinds of cool graphics on the covers.
Posted by: kim ramos at 07/28/2010 03:59:12 PM
these are very helpful and relevant information. keep them coming...thanks!
Posted by: Aubey at 07/28/2010 07:38:03 PM
More money for alcohol! YAY!!!
Posted by: Bryce Maddock at 07/28/2010 09:30:01 PM
Liz = Spam blatant Spam
Posted by: jason at 07/28/2010 09:33:54 PM
Liz - WOW, make it more obvious who you work for. Go home to your PR agency and learn more about MyFace, Spacebook and blogoverse before you try to trick people with authentic endorsements.
Posted by: Joe at 07/29/2010 11:47:17 AM
I'm used to using Google Product Search to find the "best" prices for textbooks. This is so much better!
Posted by: Linda at 07/29/2010 01:57:25 PM
There's nothing wrong with international editions. I just bought a $200 text for about $40 (including shipping) from Thailand. So far the only difference is that my softcover doesn't have the info on the inner back cover of the hardcover. Publishers can say the international student editions are not meant for sale in US but legally there is nothing wrong with buying or selling them here!
Posted by: Jennifer Connor at 07/29/2010 06:12:21 PM
Hi Linda - This is Jennifer Connor, author of this piece. Just to clarify, based on my research for the article, it actually is illegal to sell international editions in the U.S. and Canada; however, it is legal for a student to purchase the textbook for personal use. What this means is it would be illegal if you decided to sell the International textbook when you were finished with it. Thank-you for your comment.
Posted by: blargh at 07/29/2010 07:45:20 PM
...As far as I'm concerned, charging $200 for an organic chemistry textbook is theft from the students by the publishing companies. Now it's coming back to bite them.
Posted by: Bob Jones at 07/29/2010 09:43:17 PM
Price compare! Compare used less the sell-back cost against rentals. Also there are a lot of places selling used and renting textbooks. Compare them all. We just expanded the stores we shop because of all the new places to rent. Even campus book stores are starting to rent. CampusBooks.com is a good site, we use there feed at Cheap-Textbooks.com to point students to the lowest prices and to provide buyback quotes. Take the time to compare and you can save a lot of money.
Posted by: raj at 07/30/2010 12:54:34 PM
I could not find the ebookstore at abebooks,all of them were print editions
Posted by: Jenny at 07/30/2010 01:04:34 PM
Thanks for all the useful info! My books new from the bookstore this semester are $526 but I can't wait to see how much less I'm actually going to pay :)
Posted by: Jennifer Connor at 07/30/2010 05:19:57 PM
Hi Raj - This is Jennifer Connor, author of this piece. I contacted Richard Davies at Abebooks and he told me since Abebooks has just recently begun to sell Ebooks through their online marketplace they don't have a dedicated ebookstore on their site. If you are looking for a particular textbook, type the ISBN number into the Abebooks search engine and if Abebooks sells an Ebook version of that textbook it will show in the search results. The results are presented as a series of listings from sellers beginning with the lowest total price (not including shipping costs). Hope this helps!
Posted by: John at 08/02/2010 01:16:50 PM
...I am in favor of using international editions. I would caution people, however, to pay attention to the end-of-chapter exercises. A classmate turned in an assignment and thanks to a kind and understanding professor, was given extra time to do the assignment again, after copying the correct, U.S. problems. The IE book had different problems. One other warning...there are some sellers of IE textbooks which basically copy and paste descriptions as boiler plate without editing, claiming for example that an IE is in color and exactly the same as the U.S. edition, when in fact the IE is completely black and white. Plus, bad, slow service is not uncommon. I battled just such a seller, which sold me a color IE and expedited USPS Priority Mail, and said it shipped out on Saturday. In reality, it was a B&W copy, it went out via slower USPS Media Mail, and was postmarked 5 days later than the seller claimed to have mailed it. Oh, and the seller misappropriated shipping supplies from UPS, turning a padded UPS envelope inside-out to send me my book by mail! Buyer beware. I therefore prefer to shop for IE textbooks from sellers who actually have a presence in the U.S....HIH, John, Mechanical Engineering Post-Baccalaureate Student, Arizona State University
Posted by: Jim at 08/02/2010 01:42:41 PM
Cut your textbook costs in half again: Become a savvy re-seller of textbooks. Find a deal on 'Like-New' quality books before the start of the semester (buy low), take care of your books during the semester, then sell your 'Like-New' book on sites like Half.com after you take the final (sell high). Assuming your edition has not been retired, your spread will be anywhere between $10-$40, depending upon the price of the book. The net cost is typically half of what it would cost to rent. Essentially, you are cutting out the bookstore or any other middleman for that matter.
Posted by: Jim at 08/02/2010 04:20:46 PM
You've left out the biggest saver of all: Previous editions. Usually less than 10% of the book changes with each edition, and you can compare with other students or the copies found in the library to get yourself up to speed on the changes. Typically New=$120, Used=$80 Previous editions = $12. Do the math. Take the time and save a bundle.
Posted by: Mike at 08/02/2010 07:43:13 PM
Great Article Jen!! Can't wait to save some dough!!
Posted by: pix at 08/07/2010 12:08:48 AM
There is a cashback site, Trafficocity.com that will get you 4-5% Cashback on Chegg purchases and 3% from Barnes and Noble. The link to that page is trafficocity.com/html/chegg.html...You can actually get cashback from about 600 stores, but you have to use their links or banners to re-direct you to the online retailer you want. They then get a referral fee from the retailer that they transfer to your PayPal account. And they usually get it done in just a couple of days, without any minimums. Their information page is at trafficocity.com/html/what_is_trafficocity.html
Posted by: Jennifer at 08/12/2010 10:22:00 PM
Hi, Jennifer Connor here, author of this piece. I just bought my textbooks for the fall semester of my senior year. All of my books would have been $253.75 from my campus bookstore, taking into account the price of the used books that were available. Instead, I spent $118.63 and saved $135.12 using all of the tricks I discovered from writing this piece! I wish you all luck buying your textbooks for this semester! And post a comment telling us how much you saved!! :-)
Posted by: roger at 08/16/2010 12:24:38 PM
Pearl River Community College, Poplarville, MS, now offers the new rental book program through Follett. Big savings for the students!!!
Posted by: Joseph at 08/20/2010 05:33:13 PM
There is a website called textbookfind.com that has actual course schedules, required textbooks, and comparison with campus prices for a few schools including UVA, Pitt, and Wisconsin.
Posted by: nikhil at 08/21/2010 05:14:27 PM
I use the following site for a lot of freely (open-source) available online/pdf books. It has a good and growing collection of programming, mathematics and science books. Obviously it's no good if all you want is a school prescribed book. However for the above mentioned books at undergraduate level it doesnt really matter. www_e-booksdirectory_dot_com Also, try using the school library. It has a treasure of books to supplement class notes.
Posted by: Ellie at 08/25/2010 03:09:47 PM
I'm a college junior and I always buy my books used from amazon.com and, at the end of the school year, sell them back to the university bookstore. This has saved me so much! You can generally find a used copy on amazon for about the same cost of renting the book, and then it's yours to keep or sell back!
Posted by: Trish at 09/04/2010 08:10:51 PM
Hi. Books for this fall semester thru my school bookstore would have cost me $356 but this year my school had put up the ISBN numbers for all the books, so i was able to search for the books thru amazon n got all my books for $192 including shipping. I had also looked into chegg.com but all my books there were buy new for a higher price than the bookstore, none were available for rent. I really recommend using amazon, sometimes the new price isnt much more than the used but is still a lot cheaper than the used price at school, so you can end up with a new book, helpful when you sell them back.