New Ways to Tame the High Costs of College Textbooks

admin | August 19, 2012

Soon thousands and thousands of college students will be returning to school. Tuition and fees need to be paid along with the purchasing of college textbooks. Most family’s understand that college tuition is expensive. It has become a fact of life. But the costs for textbooks still is a point of contention. How can a college charge hundreds of dollars for a book that will only be used for a few months. Is it just a way to squeeze a few more dollars out of a family?

A Chemistry 101 textbook used at many colleges goes for $226 at the college bookstore. If you went to Amazon you would find the price of the book selling for $147. A third-party vendor is selling the book for $98, incredible!

Over the last few years the textbook rental has exploded because it has provided students with their required textbooks for a price which is at a fraction of the cost of a new book purchase. The required chemistry textbook mentioned previously, rents for $24 at many textbook rental websites. That’s an overall savings of $202.

Textbooks have become a commodity. The same version of textbook, rented by many online sources allows the costs to come down. The success of the textbook rental business has made them affordable again. Now it’s just a game to find the cheapest source for your textbook. To save money sourcing your textbooks I have listed a few tips to help you get started.

Shop early. Campus bookstores usually carry a good number of used books, but if students wait too long, they could be forced to go new or look elsewhere.

The Soaring Cost of College Textbooks

WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s known as a hidden expense of college fees, and you’ll likely need to spend the money to do well. But the soaring costs of textbooks it’s making it harder for some students to make the grade. Just when you thought you’d shelled …

1. Look online. This is pretty obvious, but there are still some students who go buy all their books at the bookstore. Be careful of shipping costs; most big rental websites offer free shipping, but buying new and used could incur big shipping costs. Amazon is the kingpin, but Half.com, AbeBooks.com, or BigWords.com may have better deals, depending on what students are looking for.

2. Go digital. Electronic textbooks are really starting to become more of a factor in the textbook world. E-readers are gaining popularity and offer students an easy and convenient book-reading experience. It’s important to look at software requirements, however, as some computers can’t run certain book software. E-books usually don’t come with access codes or accompanying CDs, either.

3. Don’t buy, rent. Renting books can save a lot of money, that’s no secret. Renting also eliminates the dreadful book-selling process at the end of the semester. CampusBookRentals, Chegg, and BookRenter are the big players in the rental business, and those companies advertise up to 90 percent in savings over the retail cost of books. Don’t miss the due dates because there are late fees and they can make a dent in the savings.

4. Save your receipts. The American Opportunity Tax Credit may be available to students who qualify because of textbook and other out-of-pocket higher educational expenses.

Students can save up to $2,500 on their 2012 federal taxes and up to 40 percent is refundable. The full $2,500 is available to those who pay $4,000 or more in qualified expenses for an eligible student.

Another avenue for textbook shopping seems to be on the horizon. PostYourBook.com is a social networking website dedicated to connecting users so that they are able to buy and sell textbooks with each other. Students are able to search textbooks and find the best possible price, and then exchange books with other students from their school.

My hope for the future is for textbooks to go totally digital. Apple Computers new platform for digital textbooks is incredible. An entire textbook can be uploaded to an iPad. It has the entire book and also the capability to have video and audio. For an affordable rental fee a textbook can be used by a student during the semester and afterwards can be erased when the semester is up. This purely electronic supplying of textbooks would be environmentally better and increase the bottom line for textbook providers. And of course save parents lots of money.