Already, it's that time of year again. Time to go back to school. Many college students are returning to their dorm rooms, scratching their heads, and wondering where the summer went. In addition to registering for classes and getting their financial aid straightened out, a good portion of them are trying to get a handle on the cost of their textbooks.
Because they are specialized materials, textbooks are some of the most expensive books you can buy and can easily eat up a third of your school budget. Even if you buy textbooks used at the college bookstore, you are still looking at paying around 75% of the new textbook price. Sometimes you can mitigate the cost of new textbooks by selling your old textbook. However, you can be certain that you won't get nearly as much for it as you would like. That is, if the teacher hasn't decided to go with a different textbook altogether and leave you with a book that no one wants.
There are several things you can do to get buy textbooks on the cheap and keep more money in your pocket for more important things, like Greek parties. You can skip the campus bookstore altogether and buy your textbooks from online retailers. Visit My Retail Mall for campus retailers that sell both new and used textbooks at a fraction of what you would pay at the campus bookstore.
Many of those same retailers also rent textbooks. The way a textbook rental works is the bookstore will rent the textbook to you for a period of time (from 60-120 depending on the store) for a flat fee. This is a fantastic option because not only will you save money on your books, you'll also help cut down on the number of trees being cut down to make new textbooks each year.
Another green option that also saves you money is to buy e-books. As electronic readers, like the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader, increase in popularity, more and more textbook publishers are putting their books into electronic format that can be downloaded from specialty retailers. E-books cost significantly less that regular books, you won't be burdened down with heavy textbooks to carry around, and you reduce your carbon footprint all at the same time. CourseSmart.com, BookBoon.com, and Amazon.com are great places to look for e-textbooks.
If you have books that you can't use but the camps bookstore won't buy, instead of throwing them away, you have a couple of options available to you. You could try to sell them online at sites like Ebay. Just because your school is no longer using that particular textbook doesn't mean other schools are not and the internet can help you find those buyers who need what you have.
For those books that have simply reached the end of their life, you can recycle them. Textbook recyclers help protect trees and other natural resources by finding a home for the book or by recycling the paper used to make it if the book can't be put back into circulation. Ask your campus bookstore about textbook recycling programs in your local area. If there are none, GreenTextbooks.org and TextbookRecycling.com are two internet sites that will accept your textbooks for donation.
Getting a good education doesn't have to break the bank. Shop wisely and you can save tons of money on your course materials and be eco-friendly at the same time. If you are like most students and need money but don't have time for a job, talk to me about a home business opportunity that can have you making full time income working part time hours.
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