The following tips, originally posted at StudentAwards Conversations, were contributed by students in our membership.
If you don’t want to spend a lot of money on textbooks, look for used textbooks; they are usually a lot cheaper than new ones. Some universities are also starting to rent textbooks. That’s another option, that again is a lot cheaper than buying new books. You can also try to share a textbook with someone who is taking the class with you – either a friend or someone living in the same rez as you. Finally, many texts have an e-text option. You can either buy or rent an electronic version of the text. Again, that will be cheaper than a traditional hard-copy textbook. (posted by: CatRunner)
Ask sophs and RAs if they’re selling books … look for ads around the buildings to get used books. (Posted by: freebird)
If you’re worried about cost you can buy used copies at the book store. Also try Kijiji or amazon. And a lot of people put postings on Facebook in used textbooks groups. (posted by: waitaminute)
You should consider renting them online instead, you can save a lot of money … they are real physical textbooks that you order from a website and then they ship them to you, and then you have to return them back once you are done with them. You can save a lot of money like this and it’s not like you’ll ever need them after you finish your course anyways. And if you realize that you rented the wrong textbook or your course requires a different edition, they give you 30 days to get it exchanged without any additional costs. (posted by: KingKhan)
To avoid having to buy books, check to see if your school’s library puts the textbook on course reserve. That way you can use the book for short periods of time to take notes on the weekly readings and you don’t have to pay anything for it. The only negative side to this option is that the school might have a limit on the number of times per week you can take out the book as well as how long you can have it (i.e. 3 hours per day). (posted by: SparklingBG)