Tuition may be the most expensive aspect of attending school when you're in community college (especially since you can save on living costs by living at mom and dad's house), but it certainly won't be the only thing you have to shell out for during your time in school. In some cases, textbooks could end up costing you nearly as much as tuition in any given semester, thanks to new editions being released every year at outrageously high prices, not to mention teachers that make you buy multiple texts. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to save while attending a community college - atleast when it comes to the resources needed to study for your courses.
And you'll be able to use many of these techniques when transferring from community college to Ivy League universities.
Here are just a few of the best ways to save when it comes to buying textbooks.
Used books. If your teacher doesn't require you to purchase the latest edition, there's no reason you can't get an older edition used through your campus bookstore or even on Amazon in order to save some money. Many community college professors, sympathetic to the plight of under-funded students, have perused new editions ahead of time in order to see if there have really been so many changes to the latest printings that buying them new is necessary. If only a few pages are different, they often let students skate by with older copies. If this is the case, consider buying used from your campus if possible as you may even be able to sell the books back.
Rentals. Who says you have to buy your textbooks? Plenty of websites now offer students the option to rent their texts instead. All you do is order the books you'll need for the semester and send them back when you're done. You won't be able to mark them up the same way as you would a book that you own, but considering most sites offer somewhere in the neighborhood of 70% savings off the cover price (or more) you stand to save a lot of money in the process.
Sharing. Some students have applied the adage "it takes a village" when it comes to purchasing textbooks. By getting a few students in each class to share the cost of a textbook, all can save some money. Since you might split up chapter notes in a study group anyway, each student can have the book for a portion of the semester and provide notes for everyone else so that nobody misses out on the material covered.
E-Books. With more and more textbooks becoming available in digital formats, you can save not only some money, but also your aching back when you give up paper publications in favor of a mobile, digital library. It's not just that many e-books can be had at discounted rates, but often you can share PDFs or download them to multiple devices, meaning that you and your digitally-inclined classmates could pool your funds here, as well. (This is a cheaper option, but having the book is always preferred).
Student discounts. You might be surprised by how easy it is to find textbooks for cheap. A simple Google search for discount textbooks will net you more sites that you can shake a stick at. If you end up paying full price for your books, you have no one to blame but yourself.
