Some of you may know this already, but I’m taking a few classes to finish my degree. For those of you going to college, have a child in college, or about to go to college, this may help your wallet.
I have talked about the cost of text books before, but this was my first experience as an adult in today’s market.
I took a class this summer. The textbook was $60 used or $40 for a rental. Thinking I’d like to keep it for future reference, I decided to buy used. Imagine my shock when I discovered that the college bookstore didn’t carry the textbook for a class the college was offering. I had to prepay and have it ordered in.
After the class was over, I was shocked again when the bookstore wouldn’t buy it back. The college is offering the same class with the same book, so why not? Wanting to recoup some of my costs, I sold it online for $11.75 (postage was paid by the publisher).
Now I am taking my second class and that textbook was substantially more – $200 to buy new and $100 to buy used. I did my research and checked a number of websites for the best deal (remember to search by the ISBN number to get the correct edition). I decided to rent it for $40. On the first day of class, the Professor mentioned that we could have used prior editions. Knowing that ahead of time would have saved me a lot of money.
Lessons learned:
1. Don’t shop at the college book store.
2. Compare prices (new, used, or rental) from several online retailers.
3. Check for digital editions depending on your learning preference.
4. Plan ahead so you don’t have to expedite shipping. The cheaper the shipping the better the deal.
A couple of hard lessons learned that I will put to good use for the remainder of my classes. Textbooks are expensive. Learn from my mistakes to cut a nice chunk off of college costs.
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