How to Save Money on Textbooks

Have you ever purchased the required textbook for all of your courses and then ended up using it once throughout the whole term? University is expensive enough, so don’t spend extra money if you don’t have to. Here are 5 tips for how to save money on textbooks. 

Student group chats

Before heading to your school’s bookstore, make sure to poke around on social media for group chats of students selling their old textbooks. You can usually find textbooks for as low as half the price of the book store.

The library

If the textbook for your class is optional, this is a great choice. The library at your school probably has all of the textbooks you need, and if not, they likely have old editions of them. If this is the case, you can borrow the textbooks when you need to complete an assignment or brush up on a certain concept. 

Used book stores

There’s probably a used book store at your school or in your town that you can check for the textbooks you need. Personally, after I’m done with my textbooks, I usually sell them to a used book store, so I’ve found this option to be especially helpful! 

Share

If you can’t find your textbooks at any of the options above and it is required, you may have to buy your textbooks new. If this is the case, one of the things I have found helpful is sharing textbooks. I am lucky enough to live with someone in the same program as me, so sharing textbooks is very easy. If you can find a close friend in your classes, you can share textbooks by meeting up to do your assignments or scheduling who has the textbook each day. 

Don’t buy them 

If your textbook is optional, and you feel you don’t need it, don’t buy it. I usually wait until the second week of classes to get a feel for whether or not I will need the textbook. There are many free educational resources online, like Minute School, where you can find video lessons and practice questions that can allow you to study key concepts in your courses.

Budgeting in university can be difficult, so it is important to try to save money wherever you can. I hope these tips help you save money on textbooks, and allow you to either save money or spend it elsewhere.