Affordable Textbooks
Affordable textbooks for collegiate courses are one of the number one concerns for students. The cost of college is the second highest expense you will have in your life. The highest single expense in your life is the purchase of a new home.
College tuition continues to rise at alarming rates. The cost of room and board also continues to rise. The costs continue to rise, while the amount of money available to help students dwindles. It is essential for students to keep college costs down by buying used cheap textbooks.
College textbooks will comprise on average, 20% of the yearly tuition for a student. A large number of college professors believe the collegiate textbook system is broken, and costs are too high. There is a huge campaign to try and change the cost of college textbooks.
Why are college textbooks so expensive?
- Publisher Monopoly: There are only five major college textbook publishers. This has led to an oligopoly on the college textbook market. There is little competition. It often appears that the publishers even share information and pricing strategies.
- Buying Power: Students and faculty have no buying power. Sales reps for publishers rarely even disclose actual prices for new college textbooks. You have to ask for the information.
- New Editions: Textbooks are constantly being republished in new editions for little reason. A small add-on or addendum is all that is usually necessary. The publishers put out a new edition even when it is not warranted. This leaves collegiate faculty with no recourse but to buy the new textbooks and phase out the old ones.
The constant publishing of new editions means students cannot take advantage of used textbooks, or even many online textbooks. A new edition textbook is released on average every three years. The majority of professors believe this is not necessary.
You should research your courses well in advance. You will want to find out when a textbook is slated for new release. Students can often find used textbooks advertised by students who just finished taking a course. Check in your student paper and on bulletin boards for advertisements. The college bookstores also offer used textbooks. A student may also rent textbooks. You must be careful if you rent a textbook. If you damage the rented textbook you will be responsible for paying the replacement costs.
Students should also check online for cheap textbooks. Outgoing students sell their books to online outlets in order to recoup some of the expense. There are a wide variety of online textbook outlets on the Internet.
A frugal student can still find inexpensive textbooks for their college courses. You can significantly reduce the 20% expense for textbooks if you just take the time to shop around.
If you found the previous article informative, you probably won’t like the following articles:
- Scholarships, Your Ticket to College
- Finding the Right College or Univeristy
- Save Your money (or your parents money, you lazy bum)
- Choosing a Major
- Study Tips
- College-Housing
- College Social Life
- Dealing With Professors
- Deceptive Practices by Credit Card Companies on Campus
- 18 of the Weirdest Scholarships for College
- Bullshit Your Way to an “A”
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