Cheap Textbooks

Cheap textbooks are oftentimes the only way students can afford to pay for their reading materials. It is no secret that textbooks have inflated prices. What looks like a simple volume that should cost no more than a novel can often come with a mind-numbing price tag. The lack of competition, and the captive audience, has allowed academic publishers to push prices to the breaking point.

Students, already notoriously strapped for cash and often saddled with enormous student loans and low-paying part-time jobs, are presented with crushing bills in order to pay for their textbooks. Typically, they will have no choice in the matter, either. Teachers and professors will simply assign textbooks for the course, and unless it is a literature course, it is unlikely that there will be multiple versions of the same book available for purchase.

Cheap textbooks are available, however. Students are encouraged to re-sell their books at the end of the year. Though most do so because of the cash it puts in their pockets, it also means that used, cheap textbooks become available for next year's students. The condition of used textbooks will vary--some may have notes in the margins, highlighting, dog-eared corners, or other marks of usage. Some, however, appear hardly touched. When buying cheap textbooks online, it pays to verify the condition of the book if such marks of use bother you.

There is very little in the way of cheap editions of expensive textbooks, unfortunately. Textbooks for chemistry, biology, anthropology, physics, and more are often in the triple digits in terms of cost, because of the cost of publishing them. However, before heading down to your campus bookstore, it's worth checking online and in your town to see whether used copies of the current edition are available.