WalletPop's guide to buying textbooks: Part one...don't!
Filed under: College, Shopping, Simplification
Nowadays, some students are easily spending $500 or more on textbooks each semester, prompting some professors to provide their new books online for students anywhere to use for free.Since this is unfortunately not yet the norm in many institutions around the nation, in a few weeks most parents and students will need to crack open the wallet to get ready for a new semester.
Most returning students will already be familiar with the best ways to get the books they need on the cheap, but for incoming freshmen and their parents, this guide will provide a great toolkit for getting the best deal on textbooks.It can be tempting to buy every book on the syllabus your freshmen year; you're new, a little bit nervous and you don't want to show up to class unprepared but here are a few ways in which you can avoid buying the book at all for some of your courses. In reality, this first semester may be the easiest year to do it since your plate will probably be filled by general education courses.
- Get the book from the campus library. Oftentimes a copy will be held on reserve or you can request a copy to check out hrough inter-library loan.
- Borrow from your roommate or a classmate. If you go this route you'll either need to have a book they want in exchange or be able to provide the Taco bell for late night sessions.
- Use the Professor's desk copy. At my school almost all of the professors have a desk copy which is kept in the department lounge for all students to use.
- Check with Campus Resources. At our university, we have a Learning Resource Center which helps meet the needs of students. If three or more students need a book but have trouble purchasing it, the office will buy a copy and make it available to the students.
- Spend an afternoon with a scanner. This one is of dubious legality, but if your professor provides an outline of all the homework for the semester you can plop down in front of a computer and a flatbed scanner and copy all of the relevant homework exercises. It won't likely be worth your time (nor is it legal) to copy all of the pages, but copying the 15-30 pages with short answer questions and case studies could make any of the above options easier to deal with.
Josh Smith graduated in 2005 and relished spending next to nothing on his textbooks during his undergraduate career, situations have now been reversed, and he will be teaching his first course this fall.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-15-2008 @ 4:29PM
Tracy Coenen said...
Photocopying or scanning a textbook is not of "dubious" legality. It's a violation of copyright, period. A lot of time, work, and money are put into textbooks by authors, editors, and publishers. To use illegal means like this to avoid buying the book is stealing from them. Just because books are deemed expensive is not an excuse for college students to steal from those who create the materials that contribute to their education.
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8-15-2008 @ 4:50PM
Josh Smith said...
I agree with you on that, I guess I labeled it under dubious because If the student is going to scan the last page of a chapter instead of writing down the 3 questions by hand it just seems more grey, to me anyway.
Copying down those 3 questions by hand is still copying so its a violation but for some reason it seems more people are OK with it.
Come to think of it it is a wonder with all of the user generated content out there there isn't more respect for IP such as books etc. I mean we would all be ticked off if some other blog or news service started picking up our stories gratis so whats the deal.
Maybe I'll regret saying this in a public forum but I was less respectful to copyright in my days as an undergrad. Now I am amazed by the time that people put into copying or pirating. I'd rather spend the money to get something in a good quality right now.
8-15-2008 @ 4:52PM
Tracy Coenen said...
I'm no lawyer, but I don't think writing out small portions of the text is a problem.
I do like your other more creative ways, which seem very good ways to get free access without violating copyrights.
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8-18-2008 @ 10:17PM
Chuck said...
In my MBA, I was able to get the "International" edition of many of the texts for far cheaper than the standard version. In my experiences, they were paperback and had the exact same contents. There was one time when there was an extra chapter in the International version, so the pages didn't match up exactly. Besides that, it was a great way to save some cash. I got most of my texts this way from www.half.com.
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8-20-2008 @ 2:43PM
Amy said...
There are other ways to find cheap textbooks as well.
Try www.campusi.com input the information for the book and this site will give you the price of the book at many online bookstores (the totals include shipping and online coupon codes so you really can find the best deals here).
Also, try buying an older edition of a book. Talk with the professor as well. For some classes, you need to know the information so ANY chemistry book might work. For other classes, you need to read specific essays. Professors are generally pretty understanding about how expensive college can be, if you present yourself as someone very excited to learn, but concerned about cost they usually have a few ideas up their sleeves as well!
As far as editions go, some professors will even mention that it doesn't matter what edition you have. I was in a Constitutional Law class where the professor said exactly that. Only 5 people got an A out of about 60 students in the class. I was one of those 5 people and I had one of the oldest editions which cost about $3. Certain law cases weren't covered in the book, but you can go online and look them up, They aren't summarized or explained for you, but some websites are out there which can help with that too!!!
Also, for literature classes, you can often find novels in different editions for much cheaper and many older novels are available in the public domain for free!!! The works of Charles Dickens and many other very famous authors can be downloaded to computers, cellphones, and e-book readers in minutes. (Manybooks.net has over 19,000 of them--this includes non-fiction classics like The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and The Origins of Species by Charles Darwin too!) Many public (city) and college libraries also have e-books on their websites. These are especially helpful for last-minute researchers for papers etc.(and you know who you are).
Finally, as a student and an (history) instructor, I do recommend that you buy books in your major expecially if you plan to continue in that field once you graduate. Having these books available at the drop of a hat can be invaluable in future classes and in your career.
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8-25-2008 @ 8:30AM
chuck said...
With the "fair use" act still kinda gray i find no problem with copying 15 to 30 pages but not a whole book.
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9-10-2008 @ 10:44AM
j.r said...
Some students wouldn't have as hard of a time buying the book if the author did't deem the text "obsclete" after only one semester forcing students to buy an "updated version" . I don't think it's fair for a student to copy a complete text but when there is a lack of money and assignments due, I would rather copy a chapter than waste my money by getting failing grades.
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