Why are college books so much more expensive than regular books?
Divina, Honolulu, Hawaii
The main reason it seems that college books are more expensive than ‘regular’ books (the ones you buy at the Barnes & Noble or Borders), is because, generally, the books you buy for your college classes are textbooks. This expense can be really overwhelming for a lot of students because we are used to being loaned a copy of all our textbooks in highschool, rather than having to pay for our own in college. Most textbooks can run anywhere from 40 to 200 dollars. It depends on the size, amount of materials included, and type of book.
However, there are several options for saving money on purchasing books for school:
1.) Some scholarships can be used to pay for books. Find them and apply!
2.) You don’t have to immediately buy all your books at the college bookstore. Look into different sources before you pay full price. Try Amazon, small bookstores, and a website called Chegg.com, where you can rent your textbook for a lower cost if the website has it available.
3.) Some college bookstores sell used books in addition to the brand new ones. They can often be up to 50% cheaper. Buy those! You DON’T need a brand new book just ‘because’!
4.) Sell back your books when you’re done with the class. Unless you really feel compelled to keep your textbooks, don’t. Often you can sell them back to the college bookstore for up to 50% of the original cost, or you can try and get even more money for them by selling them to other students who are taking the same class the next semester, etc.
-Ali
