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Rent, Buy, or Borrow
By April Dulsky - Updated 01.16.12

New Year's took place a few weeks ago and the resolutions made on December 31, 2011 for 2012 are already beginning to fall through. If one of your resolutions included saving money, I have some advice regarding something you need as soon as the semester begins. Textbooks are a tool supposed to be use when learning material for a class and when studying for exams. Unfortunately, they are often a way to lose a lot of money early on in the semester. This is true especially if you buy them from your campus bookstore. I have bought books from the bookstore in the past, but it was a last resort. Here are some tips if you have never had gotten them from anywhere but there and trust me; you can save hundreds of dollars.

If you are looking to actually buy or rent your textbooks, plan early. You can email your professors and ask them what texts you will need for the semester. It's handy to have your books before the semester begins because you usually need them within the first week. Also, ask students who have had the class the previous semester. They can tell you from experience how much they actually had to use the book and if you even need to purchase one. Sometimes professors regurgitate everything you need to know for the tests, so you don't need to buy anything except a notebook and pen.

The next step is to browse. I usually go to the campus bookstore and get the prices of all of my textbooks to compare when I go online. Then I usually leave because the prices tend to sticker shock me into a stupor. The next step is to head out and check out your university's own website.

Chances are your university or students from the college have a program set up where students can buy and sell their textbooks online. The books listed are usually reasonable in price and there are many to choose from. Sometimes you can even get books lent to you for no charge from other student who have taken the class previously. Use resources such as Facebook or ask around campus to see if anyone would be willing to sell or lend their old textbooks collecting dust. If you cannot find all of your texts on campus, move on to the World Wide Web.

Amazon.com is my favorite textbook buying recourse. I try to buy all of my books directly from the company because if there is a problem with a book, I can return it without a hassle and no extra shipping fees. You can also buy from third-party sellers on Amazon, whom are usually really helpful, especially if you are attempting to buy a very expensive book. For example, my statistics textbook was listed in the campus bookstore at $139.99. I bought the book from a third-party seller on Amazon for $47.99. The condition of the book was used, but so were the ones in the campus bookstore. That semester I saved over $200 by buying books from Amazon, and I did not regret it.

Another step you can take when it comes to textbooks is rental. Chegg.com and bookrenter.com are reasonable websites that understand student's state of minds when it comes to getting textbooks. Students want to receive their books fast at the beginning of the semester and then want to get them out of sight when finals are over. So theses websites have systems in place where you can rent a book for the entire semester for a fraction of the buying price. Chegg.com can even look up your university's book list to ensure you get the correct text for your class. Usually a textbook rental price averages $25 to $45, which is a nice discount. A bonus to this system is that you can ship off your books as soon as the semester is over and never have to see that book again.

A stop you should try to avoid when buying textbooks is through electronic readers. You might think you are saving money from buying the Kindle and Nook and then your textbooks, but there is a major catch that they do not want you to know. Many electronic readers still do not display page numbers which are important especially if you are citing sources within a paper. Plus you cannot turn to the pages assigned for readings because there are none. It can become extremely frustrating. Sometimes it can be cheaper and more efficient especially for larger textbooks, but do your homework before you invest. The best thing to do is to get the real textbook or you just might regret it later.

The last option is to go back to the campus bookstore and buy the rest of the texts you need. Hopefully you do not even need to resort to this, but sometimes there is no other choice. You can save so much money from stepping away from that campus bookstore and looking at your options. With the money you save, you can invest it in completing more New Year's resolutions, or just spend it on a belated present for yourself. The best part is you will save money and you usually don't even need to leave your dorm room.