Believe it or not, there’s only about one month of summer left before Notre Dame students return to campus. Many shopping excursions have been or will soon be undertaken in order to prepare for the move back, such as dorm shopping, clothing shopping, and textbook shopping.
At first, purchasing books for classes seems like the most straightforward task to complete since each class normally provides a set list of the books required for its coursework. However, textbooks can be REALLY expensive. Like, how it is justifiable for mere BOOKS to be that expensive?
Luckily, there are several things you can do to save serious $$$ and still get all the books to need to excel in your upcoming classes. Even though you can sell books back at the end of year, there is no guarantee of which books can be sold back and/or how much money you can get for them. This way, you save money while buying as well as selling.
1. Shop Around and Compare Prices
When searching for your textbooks online, it’s a really good idea to search for them on multiple websites and compare prices. That way, you don’t accidentally pay $200 for a book you could have gotten for $150. Amazon is great for price comparison of books because it lists several prices of the same book in varying conditions from different suppliers. (Also, make sure you search by ISBN number so that you get the right edition of the textbook for which you’re looking.)
2. Used Textbooks
If you can get your textbooks used, given that they’re still in working condition, do it! They are almost always cheaper than new textbooks. Besides, any wear and tear on the cover can be concealed by a cute book-sock, right?
3. Rent Textbooks
Another way to save money on textbook is to rent it from a website/store instead of buying it permanently. I rented one of my larger and more expensive textbooks last semester and saved a lot of money doing that. The only thing to remember with renting is that you have to return the book at the end of semester, or else you’ll ending up paying full price or extra charges for it.
4. See If a Fellow Student Has/Is Selling the Books You Need
Do you know someone who is looking to sell textbooks from last semester? See if they have books from the classes you’re about to take! You might luck out and get a few textbooks for much cheaper that usual!
5. Don’t Buy Every Textbook on Your List
Not immediately, anyway. Go through your list of textbooks, and if some come up really expensive, wait and see if you really need it for the course after a few days of having class. I got a textbook for a class in the fall of last year only to NEVER use it! If a class only requires one textbook, it’s probably necessary, but if a class has several textbooks, it might pay off financially to wait and see.
6. At the end of the school year, DON’T RESELL BOOKS…..
…if you know that your next course will need the same book! For example, if you’re taking the second part of a course (like Music Theory II, Calculus II, etc.), you might need the same book from the last class for your next course. This isn’t always the case, but it would be a pain to buy the book, sell it back, and then have to buy it back again!
Good luck with back-to-school shopping, Domers!
The HCND application is now open! For more information contact Rebecca Rogalski at rebeccarogalski@hercampus.com or Katrina Linden at katrinalinden@hercampus.com
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