Buy Online

Not only are tuition costs skyrocketing, but so are the books that must be purchased even before an individual enters their first classroom. In fact, the average college student spends $900 every year on textbooks.

However, this need not be the case. If college students knew which books to buy for their classes well in advance, they could purchase them online and save up to 90 percent. Yet less than a quarter of students currently buy at least one of their textbooks online. It’s not because they don’t want to, but rather because they simply don’t know which books they need until the first day of class.

In reality, most colleges receive a percentage of textbook sales from their contracted bookstores, with their greatest advantage being timing. If the school informed the students of which books they needed for their classes months or even weeks in advance, most students would buy their textbooks online. Since this rarely – if ever – happens, most individuals are forced to purchase their books at the campus bookstore because they cannot even afford to wait one or two days to begin their reading.

Things are changing for the better, though. Next summer a federal law goes into effect that will require colleges to list the required materials and their respective costs at the campus bookstore in online course schedules. Publishers will also need to disclose book prices in marketing sent to professors who may not realize the costs. This is a huge score for college students across the country. They will now have the ability to shop around.

For now, the key for students is to be proactive by emailing their professors before classes begin to find out which books they need and purchase them online. Online marketplaces provide the greatest savings. For instance, at ValoreBooks.com, a leading student online marketplace for college textbooks, a used copy of a first-year college textbook like, “Biology” eighth edition by Campbell and Reece, which lists for $183.53, was available for $70.13. The same book was offered on Amazon.com for $130.25.

So, stop complaining and get proactive. Find out what book you need in advance and buy it online. Save your money. You worked too hard for it and there are better things to spend it on.