As if college wasn’t expensive and frustrating enough, students are forced to deal with the increasing cost of textbooks. Textbooks are overpriced and they become obsolete with every new edition that comes out. You shouldn’t have to deal with the battle of textbooks when you’re battling school. But that’s how the textbook industry takes advantage. They know that you need those books, and they take advantage. Here’s how to soften the blow.

You’re usually required to buy the books. In a lot of schools (like The Ohio State University), every class is forced to require a book. One professor, who would prefer to remain nameless told me that a lot of professors don’t even teach using the book. The only reason they have one is that the university requires it, so they can make a killing selling them to you through the official bookstore. To try and avoid this, your best bet is to approach the professor and ask them how to get a good grade in their class. Ask for alternatives using the book. Some will tell you that you can use an old edition (much cheaper). Some will say that the book is only used for certain projects that only make up a small percentage of your grade, or that you don’t need it at all. I used this, and I had many professors tell me the book is useless.

For Six Best Ways To Avoid The Textbook Trap, click here.

New Editions: The publishers know that if they use the same book for a few years or more, then used copies will dominate the market. Most subjects don’t need much of an update, and any updates to the book can be done cheaply through internet corrections. Chances are, they aren’t going to use the internet to save you money. They’ll make a new edition! Sometimes the new edition is almost exactly the same as the old, sometimes it’s updated using theories that haven’t been tested in that field, and sometimes it’s a legitimate update of the books contents. The problem is, every time they update the book you have to buy a new copy.

For a better understanding of how the textbook industry works, click here.

For tips on how to save using international versions of textbooks, click here.

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