College

[shadowblitz293 37]

So i just started college and i need to buy some books that add up to $400
that's a lot of money and i don't have that money. How do i get cheap books? i've checked online as well, some are way more expensive online than in the bookstore itself.

[ChosenOne2000 4440]

Amazon

[shadowblitz293 37]

3 minutes ago, ChosenOne2000 said:

Amazon

i did, they're equally expensive

[ChosenOne2000 4440]

Credit cards

[shadowblitz293 37]

10 minutes ago, ChosenOne2000 said:

Credit cards

i would have to pay back in interest, that's a lot

[Dr. NarwhalsNumbNuts IV 2291]

There are certain sites that you can get these textbooks from.

 

Or, and this worked for my last couple CSET classes, google, "[TEXTBOOK]" and pdf. Sometimes, some kind soul posts a whole PDF that you can print and use as you like. 

[Joscal 339]

Chances are, your college library will have a few copies you can check out of various textbooks. Really the ones you 'need' to buy are books that come with keys for a mandatory online program or some bullshit. Sometimes they will be available with just the key and no book so you can get around that.

 

Another thing you you could try is Craigslist. Chances are someone last year/semester had the course you're taking and is selling the book you need, it may be the previous edition but that's usually fine.

 

Going on about that, when looking for textbooks the last one or two editions are most of the time acceptable. There's probably very little new information most of the time and some of the questions may be different than the current edition. That can be remedied by communicating with classmates or checking the current version held in the school library.

 

Also like Narwahls said, you could quite literally google college textbooks PDF and the second link has enough information to get you started.

 

Last, chosenone said amazon. There are also options of renting a digital edition on amazon which is vastly cheaper than buying hard copies of the books. There are also options of renting them through other services like chegg, but I've personally not used them.

 

Good luck with your classes if you think a gaming forum is a good place to go to for this kind of information.

[Avery 794]

A lot of times you can find older editions for free online in pdf form. The HW problems between editions are usually similar, may need to verify which problems with classmates.

[Triv 79]

If you have an iPad or any sort of tablet, even a laptop, you can buy eBooks for a fraction of the price.

 

The book for my accounting course costed $220 give or take depending on the website. I bought the electronic book form on Chegg for $45.

 

Ebooks are great because there is a search bar usually and you can look up anything in the textbook. And you dont have to carry a heavy textbook around with you. Ebooks are almost always way cheaper and just easier than a regular textbook.

 

I recommend ebooks.

[Rootbeer 1293]

Chegg is where I rented a book that normally costed me $100 for $10. Returning it was free, ya just gotta remember to do so (they even send you a reminder). I'd def recommend renting a textbook for generals -- you'll probably never use that environmental studies textbook ever again. If it's something like a math textbook though, buying it holds value even after the course ends. I've referred back to previous materials before and probably will again in the future, since math builds on itself.

[UnknownLegend 5480]

On 1/30/2017 at 10:30 PM, shadowblitz293 said:

So i just started college and i need to buy some books that add up to $400
that's a lot of money and i don't have that money. How do i get cheap books? i've checked online as well, some are way more expensive online than in the bookstore itself.

 

Try searching the book name and edition in Google.  Also try a site like Libgen or bookzz.

 

Some torrent sites may also have them, if they're older.

 

 

Your school's library may have a copy or two you can check out as well.  For one of my classes, I was fast enough one year to grab it, and just kept it checked out all semester.

 

Lastly, many bookstores allow you to "rent" for one semester now, generally at about half the cost of buying Used.  If you planned to buy it only for the semester then sell it back, it's cheaper to rent. 

[shadowblitz293 37]

thanks for the info, will try all of them soon

[Sith 1050]

Usually college is expensive, so you need to pay money to go to college and its a lot of money. Did I mention you need to pay for college with money? Like expensive, probably at least 300 dollars for college.

[VEGEMITEKILLER 259]

Ask ppl for pdf versions if they have it or look up your college's textbook exchange facebook group. If your college doesn't have a facebook group like that, you have to be a brave seaman and find the textbooks. 

[shadowblitz293 37]

one of my classes alone was 157 + books.

[ChosenOne2000 4440]

13 minutes ago, shadowblitz293 said:

one of my classes alone was 157 + books.

That's cheap.

[fontaine 1744]

Make sure these classes actually NEED you to have the books. Most of the time a class will have "required" textbooks but you can get by just fine with lectures/class. For the classes I actually needed to look things up (Biology major here), I would just pirate a current or former edition of the book and get by. Library loaned copies can help too (just use the library scanner to get what you need!).

[ChosenOne2000 4440]

[shadowblitz293 37]

the books are *mandatory* so i'l try to get the rest of the money tomorow for it.

[fontaine 1744]

12 hours ago, shadowblitz293 said:

the books are *mandatory* so i'l try to get the rest of the money tomorow for it.

 

No luck finding a PDF copy on google?

[Bear-Man-Thing 203]

you'll probably never use that environmental studies textbook ever again.

I use those books all the time. Especially in my environmental policy and capstone class last semester.

But really, Chegg is great. If I couldn't find a pdf of the book that was required for my general classes, chegg.


Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk

[Rootbeer 1293]

3 hours ago, Bear-Man-Thing said:

I use those books all the time. Especially in my environmental policy and capstone class last semester.

 

 

Okay fair enough, since environmental science is at least somewhat relevant to your degree. My Comp Sci, not as much >:|

[shadowblitz293 37]

i was able to gather money to buy my books, t'was a complicated task. thanks for the suggestions, will use for future reference.