Cheap Textbooks Can Save You Hundreds Of Dollars Per Year!

It is an unfortunate fact that most students have to pay a great deal of money to complete their education.  A very great deal... and most resort to arranging loans to cover their expenses.  One of the highest expenses is, of course, the cost of textbooks.  It is estimated that textbook prices have risen at twice the rate of inflation over the past 25 years.

Buying cheap textbooks is one of the best ways students can defray the cost of their education.  The good news is there is a thriving market for used textbooks.  Although for some classes you don't have a choice because the professor has picked a brand new textbook.  But if you do have the choice a used textbook will in invariably be cheaper.  You can find discounts up to 90% off the 'normal' price at your University bookstore.

There are many factors that contribute to the high cost of textbooks but there are two main ones. A) professors pick the books and B) there isn't as much competition within this market compared to others.  Since faculty are the ones choosing the new textbooks and students are the ones buying the textbooks price isn't really a big part of the buying decision.  So basically the textbook publishers can charge higher prices.  Therefore no cheap textbooks.  Another reason they get away with this is because when it comes to textbooks there are really only three big players: Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson.  So there is simply less competition than in the past.

Really its all about the money for the textbook publishers as they know a new edition will have a higher price than the old edition.  So they tend to come out with a new edition every 3-5 years.  Most of the time the new editions have little changes other than graphics and changing around the homework problems.  A few alternatives exist like rental services and the school libraries often keep some copies on reserve.  But these are often not viable routes as the copies are often extremely limited.

If you have to purchase a textbook from a retailer you want to get the best deal possible.  Online retailers have actually created the competition for cheap textbooks that was lacking in the traditional college bookstores.  Not only can you find the best deals on new or used cheap textbooks there but they will also buy your own used textbooks as well.  This will usually get you a better price than trying to sell to a fellow student or resell to the University bookstore.  The best company we have found for both new and used textbooks is Textbooks.com.