Beating the textbook budget – part 2

Earlier I shared how my daughter saved on her first semester textbooks.  Here’s how she approached getting the best deal for second semester.

• Using the campus bookstore’s online ordering form, she managed to find out the information (title, author, and edition) needed in order her textbooks for her economics courses online through other sources over winter break. Using www.cheapesttextbooks.com, she was able to see which online store/marketplace had the cheapest price and then order from that individual seller. (Word of caution: the lowest price listed may be for the book in the worst condition. Make sure you check the seller’s description before ordering.) We were able to save $23 dollars on a used statistics books and get the macroeconomics one still in the shrink wrap for $73 cheaper than the price at the bookstore.
• When the bookstore did not have the textbooks listed for her science nor literature class before leaving for winter break, she emailed the professors directly to ask them. Her science professor promptly emailed the ISBN number back, and after a little more nudging her literature professor did the same. We were able to save $45 off the cover price for a brand new (still in the shrink wrap) science textbook online, and because we were able to order it over the break she had it in time for the first class.
• Once again, we utilized www.PaperbackSwap.com for 6 of the 7 books needed for her literature class. Because her professor took so long getting back to her she was unable to order the books until a few days before break ended and, therefore, the books slowly arrived at school. If you go this route, you need to be confident that you won’t need the books for at least ten days in order to account for processing and media mail shipping. (Her professor assured her that the novels weren’t needed until two weeks after school began.) Net cost:  $2.58/book plus an unwanted old paperback, for a total of $15.48.
• She rescued the 7th book from the garbage heap. A friend had read it for another course last semester and planned  on throwing it away. Already wanting to read it, she asked her friend if she could have it. It was merely a coincidence that the professor required it for her literature class.
• Her request to take another course wasn’t approved until the first day of classes and she was in a slight panic over how to get the two books required for this geography course in time to complete her assignments. Before forking over $176 at the bookstore for the two, she checked the campus library and found both were on reserve hold, which means students can use them in the library for a maximum of two hours. She’s been able to use those books in the mean time while waiting for her copies, which were $75 cheaper, to arrive in the mail.

Retail value of the books: $694

Financial aid office’s suggested budget for books: $500

Total cost for semester 2: $381

Savings: $313

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