Saving money on textbooks will ease your budget as a student. As grants respond to your tuition needs, there are also ways of decreasing textbook expenses.

Book exchange

You can start a book exchange with friends and classmates. In a book exchange, you will pool together your current textbooks. This will work well for students who share most courses. Members can get textbooks they need for the particular day, and return them after use. The problem with this is that you will be sharing textbooks. So, you may not have enough time for each of your texts.

Borrow

If you want to borrow your textbooks from the library, make sure that you get your reading list early. Head to the library as soon as you get the list to borrow your needed texts. You have to move quickly because libraries may have limited copies.

Buy online

Buying via the Internet may sound high-tech, but you can actually save if you know where to look. Visit sites, such as Ebay, for discounts. Even major online stores, such as Amazon, offer discounted books. You can also download electronic textbooks for free from reputable sites. Just make sure that you only download materials that are not copyright protected.

Buy used

Used books are always cheaper. So browse through stores that sell used books; you may just find your needed texts. It may not work if professors insist on you having the latest editions. However, for instances when you are using an old edition, you can even buy from someone who is at least a year ahead of you in school.

Rent

You can also rent textbooks. Textbook rentals will let you use their textbooks for a long period of time, perhaps even for the whole term. Prices are usually less than half of the textbook’s retail price, maybe even lower at 80% off.

Share

If you have a friend or neighbor using the same textbook, you may each pay half for the same textbook. You have to make sure though that you do not share the same class hours. You do have to adjust to the fact that like in the book exchange, you will not have as much time with the textbook as when you are the sole owner.

Time is up…

If you do decide to buy your textbooks, used or brand-new, you can sell them after the term is over. This way, a portion of your money comes back to you.

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