Some say you don't know poor unless you have been to college. It's true. I've driven down the road in my own college town and seen med students pan-handling at intersections right off freeway exits. Kids in their young twenties. Homeless. Hungry. Until the next semester starts and they get their scholarships that pay for everything, they represent a college town's poorest.
Well, let me let you in on a little secret. This doesn't have to be the case anymore. I can help you save money while you are going to college. And, you might save hundreds, if not thousands on a four year degree. Even more if you want to get your Masters or a PhD. What's the catch? No catch. I've been there, paying out of pocket for tuition and didn't have any money left for books. Nada. Zilch. I went one year without any books at all. How I managed an average 4.0 in those two semesters is beyond me. I definitely knew I was lucky though.
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UGA - ranked #63* in the Nation
Bookstore revenue in 2010 - $1,231,831**
Harvard - ranked #1* in the Nation
MIT - ranked #6* in the Nation
Bookstore (TheCoop)*** revenue in 2012 - $44,977,293****
Follett - Private Corporation that runs 800 college bookstores
Total revenue each year - $2.7 billion*****
This is insane! And this doesn't cover every school bookstore either, because a lot more universities do not even make their bookstore sales report available to the public. If everyone knew how much money was being made in bookstore alone, there would be a lot more unrest among students and their respected paying parents. Remember, this is the money made by the colleges without the tuition costs and fees thrown in.
So how would a student get around these unnecessary textbook costs? By a variety of buying options! Here's a list of some that I will touch up on specifically in other posts:
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International Editions
Loose-leaf Editions
Used Editions
Online Editions
Older Editions
Rent textbooks
Local Bookstore
Share with a classmate
I've tried all of these options and I have gone over the benefits and pitfalls with each. The links will direct you to the related post or you can find them on the right side of the screen starting with a label "Saving on Textbooks".
Your best bet would be to try to cut out the bookstore as best you can from the mix because that is the location where you will end up spending the most. Convenience will be the greatest enemy in school. In my freshman year, after totaling everything in my cart online, it came up to over $400. I did myself a favor back then and spent less than half that by being a little creative in my shopping habits. Now I would like to pay it forward and share some of my best tricks and ideas with you.
If you found this post helpful, please share with friends and comment below. Thanks!
*According to USNews
**http://www.busfin.uga.edu/amr_10/aux_admin/bookstore.pdf
***This store supplies textbooks and merchandise to both MIT and Harvard in Mass.
****http://store.thecoop.com/coopstore/estore_financialresults.jsp *****http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidrandall/2010/08/19/the-future-of-the-college-bookstore/
