[This post is part of a group writing project titled "Back to School" on the Personal Finance Network. You may also want to check out Work, Life and School for Graduate Students by Clever Dude, Back To School: Get Your Educational Finances In Order by Four Pillars, Frugally and Happily Back to School 9 Different Ways by Money Ning, An Empty Wallet Isn't Required for Back to School by Blunt Money and Dorm Room Essentials Checklist by Squawkfox from other members of the network.]
How time flies! It seems like we celebrated Canada Day just the other day and here we are, with just two weeks to go until Labour Day. With my kids in daycare and my university days well in the past, I don’t have many brilliant tips to share but one — if you buy used textbooks online, you could save a bundle.
Last semester, my spouse was enrolled in a graduate level course and the professor set a text book that is listed at $63.50 and selling close to the cover price at the University bookshop. But head over to Amazon and you’ll find that copies of the book listed in “good” condition as low as $2.79. Of course, the list price has as much relevanceas an Air Canada advertised fare to the final bill. The total cost including shipping is $17.77, which is still a huge saving, compared to the cover price. The only downside is that the book can take as long as four weeks to arrive, so it is best to order early. If you don’t plan on referring to the book again, you may even be able to sell it at the end of the semester and recoup most of your cost.
While researching this topic, I found a number of useful resources. SmartMoney lists 4 ways to save on College Textbooks and a recent issue of MoneySense magazine featured a story on free textbooks. If you have a tip on saving money on text books, let us know in the comments.
[Update: Thanks to Dave of Investing Intelligently for pointing out that AbeBooks is has a better selection than Amazon for used and international edition textbooks.]
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22 responses so far ↓
1 Back To School - Get Your Educational Finances In Order // Aug 14, 2008 at 7:07 am
[...] Capitalist has some ideas on “Saving on Textbooks“. Similar Posts:Education Investment Accounts: Canadian RESP Vs. American 529 [...]
2 Sam // Aug 14, 2008 at 9:54 am
Additionally, you can try joining online groups within your community, or alumni online groups and perhaps you could even save money if they would allow your to borrow their text books or buy it at much lower price than paying extra fees for shipping and stuffs.
Sam
Fix My Personal Finance
http://fixmypersonalfinance.com
3 Jon202 // Aug 14, 2008 at 9:54 am
Another option is to ask your professor to put the required texts on reserve at the library, but most already do. That way you can sit and read the required pages for free. Not always practical, but can help.
4 Philip S // Aug 14, 2008 at 10:19 am
Really?
I know the Personal Finance Network is a good concept but if it forces you to write things about subjects that aren’t in your realm of interest, why are you with them? This is the second article in this series that I’ve been disappointed with (the first being the Will article). Your blog has been aimed at 30-somethings looking for relevant financial advice (the normal family issues). I doubt many of your readers are university level students, 18-22, looking for advice on cheap books while searching for information on TFSA’s.
You have an excellent blog and I’ll chalk these two articles up to summer slowdown and the Olympic break.
5 Dave // Aug 14, 2008 at 10:44 am
While I don’t agree with Philip S completely (I am interested in this blog post…as a former student who paid lots for textbooks and who still buys them for work), I’m not a fan of forced articles and forced linking. But it’s your blog, you do what you want!
Try AbeBooks. I’ve never been disappointed and I find them better than Amazon for buying used or international editions of books. Shipping from China and India can take a long time though. Not so great for school textbooks if you need it right away but if you want a textbook for work and there’s not rush it’s great. I was a privately owned company out of Victoria, BC, however Amazon bought them on August 1st. Hopefully Amazon won’t mess with them too much.
6 Derek // Aug 14, 2008 at 10:47 am
Philip S may resent you for it, but I appreciate this series of articles, since I’m halfway through an MBA degree and gearing up for another 8 months of full-time classes with only my wife’s part-time income. At 30 years old, with a mortgage and a young family, leaving work for 16 months to get a graduate degree is probably one of the most significant and troublesome financial events in my life to date.
I don’t read the other blogs you linked to, so I would only encounter their posting because they were aggregated here. Thanks again.
7 Canadian Capitalist // Aug 14, 2008 at 11:15 am
Jon: Good tip and I think Profs do that anyway. At least, that’s how it was when I went to school.
Philip: Ouch! I actually like group projects and while some posts will occasionally disappoint some readers, most of my focus will be on financial issues that is of interest to people in my age group. Actually, I thought today’s post would be useful because like Dave, I still buy textbooks and many in their thirties are enrolled in school part-time. I’ve admitted that it’s not the most brilliant tip, though
Dave: Thanks for the tip on AbeBooks. I found the same book for $16.46 but the shipping seems to be faster.
8 squawkfox » Printable Dorm Room Essentials Checklist // Aug 14, 2008 at 11:46 am
[...] Canadian Capitalist: Save on Textbooks. [...]
9 Four Pillars // Aug 14, 2008 at 12:08 pm
A comment to Phillip S - I might be a bit biased since I was part of both group projects that CC was “forced” into this week.
Regarding the wills - if that isn’t a topic that is extremely relevant for a good portion of ‘younger’ adults (20s,30s, 40s) then I don’t know what is. I wrote my post on getting a will because I just (finally) finished the process after putting it off for quite a while. It is my sincerest hope that it encourages other people who need to get a will and haven’t gotten around to it, to go and do it. Of course there are people who aren’t interested - my own blog partner isn’t interested because he knows he doesn’t need a will (he still read the post however and didn’t complain).
Regarding back to school - I did exactly what CC suggested a couple of years ago when I took a night course that had an expensive textbook and I’m sure there are many other readers who take courses occasionally. You are right that there probably aren’t a lot of full time students reading our blogs however some of their parents are - we bloggers tend to write about items that affect us (like CC said) and I’m pretty sure that in time you will see a lot more ‘back to school’ and ’school expense’ related posts from the likes of CC, MDJ, myself, Financial Blogger etc as our kids start attending school.
10 Robillard // Aug 14, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Of course, the bookstore will probably stiff you on the price of the textbooks, and force you to buy hardcover. Such is the case of a monopolist trying to extract rents from its customers.
On the plus side, if you buy at the university bookstore, they will typically buy the book back at the end of the semester for maybe half to two thirds of its value. So, if you consider the resale value (textbooks from sources other than the university bookstore may have a significantly lower resale value) and ignore the time value of money, the cost savings of buying elsewhere is reduced. Also note that there is a convenience yield from buying at the university bookstore. You don’t have to wait for delivery, you are practically guaranteed a certain resale value, you get a receipt that you can keep and claim on your taxes, and you don’t need to search for a buyer when you want to sell the book. I graduated two years ago and I’m finally able to claim all the tax credits that I earned by spending gobs of cash on tuition and textbooks.
11 AE // Aug 14, 2008 at 3:30 pm
I have to agree with Phillip S. that I don’t like the ‘forced’ post topics among all the blogs.
I think a network of financial blogs is great because it gives the reader a smorgasbord of new blog posts on any given day. However, now that I know all the blogs are posting on the same topic it saves me from having to visit them.
12 Squawkfox // Aug 14, 2008 at 5:25 pm
@Philip S I see both Wills and Education as very important PF matters…unless you’re against education and plan to never die. Personally, I enjoy participating in group writing projects as I expand my blog subject matter beyond the usual. The blogosphere is a constant conversation and to not communicate beyond the bounds of my own blog would stifle my own learning. Besides, CC’s writing on education could actually help student readers who don’t comment…and helping out is kinda what CC is about…
13 guinness416 // Aug 14, 2008 at 5:26 pm
Yes, sorry guys, I’m kind of with Philip and AE too - I could be wildly off (nothing new there) but there doesn’t seem to be the same heart in the “team” posts. Plus I don’t like having five or six posts on the same topic in my reader just when I want to procrastinate over a cup of tea, dammit! Hope you know that this is constructive criticism as I generally love your blogs.
I remember classmates spending hours and hours over at the copy shop photocopying textbooks when I was at college. Luckily I worked nights so I could afford them, and was spared that slog. I suppose kids don’t do that now with their newfangled laptops and respect for copyright and so forth.
14 Erik Peterson // Aug 14, 2008 at 8:23 pm
Your post parallels the reasons I created DormTrader, a Facebook app for college students to save money on books.
http://apps.facebook.com/dormtrader
15 Canadian Capitalist // Aug 14, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Philip, AE, guinness: I’ve noted your concerns. I don’t mind criticism — it means you care about the blog as well. Indifference would be far worse. I do want to point out that group projects will be an occasional — it’s not going to be a daily feature.
16 Scott @ The Passive Dad // Aug 15, 2008 at 12:32 am
Back when I was in college, I wish they had half.com or some other alternative to purchasing used books from my school bookstore. It was hilarious trading in books for pennies and having them resell them for a huge premium. We didn’t have any alternatives. Oh, technology has now changed all that today.
17 AE // Aug 15, 2008 at 10:33 am
Is a student buying a textbook within the fair dealing exception for copyright infringement? Isn’t the purpose for private study?
Just go to http://www.textbooktorrents.com
18 » The Links (Home Office Warrior) at Halo Secretarial Blog - // Aug 15, 2008 at 2:25 pm
[...] Canadian Capitalist has a timely post on Saving Money on Textbooks [...]
19 Ted // Aug 15, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Renting Textbooks is also becoming a very solid option for students, as it requires less money upfront (See Chegg.com).
When it comes to buying textbooks online, you might want to check out this independent study that finds the cheapest places to buy textbooks.
20 DAVE // Aug 18, 2008 at 12:23 pm
you can find lots of cheap books using craiglist
21 Bad Advice… for Free! // Aug 18, 2008 at 3:34 pm
[...] Canadian Capitalist: Back to School: Save on Textbooks [...]
22 Caroline // Oct 4, 2008 at 1:02 pm
I’m a 20 year old student. I’ve found the best way to save on textbooks is to not buy them if possible. The first few years you usually do have to buy the book because the classes are large and the prof generally lectures directly from a book and the midterms/finals are from the book. Now that I’m in 4th year and have smaller classes I find the profs have more customized classes and they even say you don’t really have to buy the book.
If you do need to study from the book, the prof usually makes 1-2 copies available on reserve in the library where you can go take it out and make notes in the library.
If you need to buy the book there are usually on campus websites where students post books for at least a third or half the price.
There are so many options available that I don’t ever buy brand new books anymore. I re-sell most of mine and keep the ones that I find will stay useful to me.
A lot of students go drop $600 for a semesters worth of new books at the bookstore because they are on OSAP and just received their large cheque. But in a few years when they have huge debt I’ll bet many wish they tried to be more thrifty.
I spent under $100 this semester.
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