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moneysense.ca, 14/08/08
Back to School: Save on Textbooks
[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.]
moneysense.ca, 14/08/08
[...] Capitalist has some ideas on “Saving on Textbooks“. Similar Posts:Education Investment Accounts: Canadian RESP Vs. American 529 [...]
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[...] Canadian Capitalist: Save on Textbooks. [...]
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.
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.
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.
@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…
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.
Your post parallels the reasons I created DormTrader, a Facebook app for college students to save money on books.
http://apps.facebook.com/dormtrader
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.
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.
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
[...] Canadian Capitalist has a timely post on Saving Money on Textbooks [...]
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.
you can find lots of cheap books using craiglist
[...] Canadian Capitalist: Back to School: Save on Textbooks [...]
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.
[...] Buy discount and secondhand textbooks. The internet is a beautiful place for students looking to cut costs on buying textbooks. The Canadian Capitalist did a post showing students how to Save On Textbooks. [...]
Hey guys,
Caroline, i totally agree with you. Im currently a York student going into my 3rd year and learned my lesson when it comes to textbooks after my first year.
I use the York book classifieds now (on the york Bookstore Website) or go to the Discount book store across the street.
A great way to save money is to trade your books with other people – I had a few friends who were taking the same course i took in their second semester and I was taking the course they took in first semester in my second semester – we simply traded our books and saved approx. $400!
I would suggest that everyone visit Facebook’s MARKETPLACE for awesome deals. Also, I just recently found out through a friend that the Microsoft Office 2007 Software is being sold to Uni students for an incredibly cheap price. Im not sure if its available on all campuses but I know york has it: http://www.theultimatesteal.ca/york
Its pretty much the entire office software (no expiry) for $64 bucks. I was pretty shocked but apparently its true because a lot of my friends have already gotten it so I think i’ll be getting it too since trying to download it for free off the net has been very annoying for me.
Another student money grabber are on campus restaurants – guys FYI, PACK A LUNCH…it does not take that long and its probably a lot healthier then any other on campus food. I spend about 20 bucks a day on food and I dont work during the year…can you say robbed?
anyways wish you all goodluck this september
Take care and great article – I love how it got a lot of students talking!
p.s. here are some great links:
York Book Classifieds:
http://www.sellmytextbooks.org/members/19/index.cfm?index=UBCSEARCH
microsoft office 07 (64$):
http://www.theultimatesteal.ca/york
facebook marketplace:
http://apps.facebook.com/marketplace/?cm_mmc=Bookmark-_-bookmark-_-bookmark-_-home
easy lunch recipes (the sandwiches are especially good):
http://recipes.kaboose.com/lunch-recipes.html
Goodnight
You can also check out http://www.DealOz.com , DealOz compares 200 bookstore prices and free discount coupons too. Their coupons are valid and have saved over $500 on my textbooks.
Check out http://www.bookase.com, Books Price Comparison website searches all the major online bookstores worldwide to help you find the lowest price for the book. It also offer discounts coupons for various online bookstores to help you further reducing your costs
I love using Chegg to rent texts every semester because I save money and they ship fast. When you order, use code CC123047 for a discount every time or $5 more back when selling Chegg your used texts. Just put the code in and hit the “apply” button.
The code does not expire so it can be used with every order. Feel free to share this with other starving students.
Students in Canada now have access to a huge selection of
cheap, used textbooks, and rentals. BookMob.ca is the first
service in the country to offer students choice, incredible
selection, and the best prices when buying their textbooks.
I am a student at the University of Ottawa; when it comes to finding textbooks for University, I have had the most success using http://www.locazu.com – it is free to use and connects you with everything you need to survive university.
You make a ‘Wishlist’ of the books you need, and then you receive notification when someone in your area posts them for sale – it’s fast and easy to use!
I had previously tried using Craigslist, Kijiji, Facebook forums, Agora, and other forums, but I found them to be very disorganized – If I found a book that I needed was posted by someone, by the time they would respond to me, it would be gone.
With LocAZu, the wishlist feature is very helpful because it eliminates the need to repost your books or skim through ads – saving me the hassle and the time.
So if you’re looking to buy books or sell used books, I strongly recommend trying http://www.locazu.com -
I saved a lot of money!