The Quad’s Guide to Saving on Textbooks

It’s no secret that textbook prices are ridiculously, and often unreasonably, high. Whether you’re looking at the 57 paperback requirements of the Senior English Major or four different thousand-page tomes plus lab manuals of the pre-Med sophomore, book-lists are universally daunting. But the only thing more irritating and frustrating than a long and pricey book-list is a class in which the largest and most expensive books do not get used.

We’ve all had them: classes in which the professor requires a $200 book but tests exclusively on in-class PowerPoint slides. And while, at the end of the semester, you may lament buying the book in the first place, it’s all so uncertain. You never know when the professor is going to require 100 pages of reading for a first-week-of-class quiz.

In the end, it’s a gamble, and one with $400 of your (or your parents’) money at stake.

As someone who has paid a total of $300 of her own cash on never-used textbooks and materials in the past five semesters, I’ve since learned my lesson and am here to share my accumulated wisdom. Here are some tips on slashing your textbook bill by well over half.

1. Use Sites like Amazon, Ebay and Half.com

This one is the easiest and most obvious solution. Now that the Bookstore website lists ISBN numbers for all the books, it’s possible to figure out exactly what you need for the class and then buy it online. New books can be found without the markup, and Amazon sellers often have the books used for dirt-cheap. Half.com and EBay have their own steals to offer.

2. Wait until the semester starts to buy your books.

Say you’ve chosen to buy online. At times, figuring out which edition of a textbook to buy can be frustrating. The BU Bookstore website usually lists the most up-to-date version of a text, but you can often find an earlier edition of the book for half or even a third of the price online. On one hand, this is a steal. On the other hand, the editions can differ in ways that might be of importance to your professor. They might have different exercises, different chapter orders, or different page numbers.

Waiting until the first day of class is critical here. Often, on the first day of class, a professor will say that  the edition of the textbook is not important, and the past edition is just as good. Some might even say that the book is only for reference, and that the bulk of the material will come from lecture.  With that in mind, you can choose on your own which edition of the book to buy, or whether or not to buy the book at all.

3. E-mail the professor and ask for help.

If you really cannot wait until the semester starts to order your books, try e-mailing your professor ahead of time to ask which books you will need. While they won’t all respond or be receptive, many are happy to provide you with the textbook information they usually wait until the first day of class to provide. I have even had one professor who, on the first day of class, said she had a few extra copies of the book to lend to anyone who’s really hard-up on cash. (Side note: these are always going to be the best professors you have ever had.

3. Check sites like RateMyProfessors.com

For Professors who skim the syllabus in class, demand the newest editions or refuse to be honest about how often the textbook will be used, there are other solutions. Sites like RateMyProfessors.com are usually full of complaints about classes in which the expensive text is unnecessary. Pay close attention.

4. Share books. 

When all else fails, share. If you are in a class with a friend who is also looking to save some money, ask them if they want to split the cost of the book and share it. Unless you live miles away and have exactly the same study habits, this can work out well.

5. Rent, don’t buy.

Textbook rental is excellent in that it gets you the book for much cheaper, and absolves you of the duty of selling books back. The BU Bookstore has its own rental option, which is an excellent step forward. But even the rental service is more expensive than it has to be. Often, you can buy books on Amazon for cheaper. The easiest option is to use a textbook rental website like Chegg. Chegg.com usually has some of the cheapest rental options, and also sends you helpful reminders when your due-dates are approaching. Sometimes they will even forgive you of your late fees if you forget to send a book in on-time.

6. Use the Facebook Group

BU Students Selling BU Books for BU Courses is an excellent alternative to using websites to buy cheap used textbooks. You won’t have to wait for shipping. There’s no guarantee that someone will be selling what you need, but it’s worth a look.

7. Goodwill.

Goodwill is a long-shot, and requires a lot of patience, but if you’re looking to get your Physics book for under $10, it’s worth the afternoon that might be required to search.  This tip only really works in the very beginning of first semester, and it usually only works for upper-level classes, as it cashes in on senioritis and upperclassmen-level laziness. Most apartment leases end on September 1, at which point Goodwill is flooded with donations from tenants looking to lighten their loads as they move. Every year, among the donations are piles of textbooks that students had forgotten to sell in May, and no longer have time to with a few hours to move-out. It can be a painful and tedious search through the disorganized bookshelves and donation bins, with no guarantee of success, but nothing beats the satisfaction of finding a $40 textbook for $5.