Before Move-In Day: Buying Textbooks

Part of the "Surviving College" series

When you start your first year of college, you should ideally have all your textbooks bought and in your hands at least a week before you move in. This gives you time to flip through your books, make sure they are the right edition and in good condition, and even reorder if you need to.

But your options for textbook buying do not just include your campus bookstore anymore. Actually, to get the most for your money, you will need to look online at bookstore websites, Amazon.com, and Ebay or Half.com. checking around at all the different bookseller sites will help you compare which is the better deal.

Tips for Buying

• Buy books online if you can. Payments go faster and your books can be shipped to your house or to your new college address to save you the trouble of having to load them when you move.
• Never buy a new textbook if you can help it. Used textbooks are often still in good condition and are usually VERY much cheaper. Sometimes you will just have to grin and bear the cost of a new textbook because the professor wants an updated version, but these cases are fairly rare.
• When you compare prices on the same book from different sellers, make sure you are also comparing the condition of the book and the edition number of the book as well. You don't want to accidentally end up with the used 1st edition when you actually needed the new 2nd edition, just because you wanted to save a little money.
• Usually you can look up what books you need for your courses on your college's website, but the campus bookstore's site should also be able to generate an accurate list for you if you are not yet able to log in.
• If you don't like buying books online, you can also look to see if there are small bookstores just outside the college's campus area. Call ahead to see what books and editions they have available--the smaller bookstores closer to the college may have more of what you are looking for than the big chain bookstores.