College Textbooks – One of the most inflated costs out there.

Similar to the shocking cost of  your popcorn at your local movie theater,  the price tags on college text books also come as an unwelcome added expense to college students (and their parents).

OK, it may be more convenient to snag your text books from the on the college book store, but like the popcorn, you’ll end up paying dearly for it.  Instead check out these simple alternative options.

1. Cross the street – Closely located off-campus book stores stay in business by beating the prices being charged on campus.
2. Plan ahead and surf the savings – Try to obtain your upcoming course requirements and surf the web to find lower prices.  Check out Bestbookbuys.com .  It’s a great eMarketPlace site that allows people to do one stop shopping through tons of different stores. .  Note:  It is always easier if you have the ISBN number handy for searching. Make sure to pay attention to the price as well as the additional shipping charges and shop total price, not just list price.
3. Go digital and save – Look around for cheaper digital versions of text books (e.g.  ebooks, PDF’s, kindle books from amazon.com, etc)
4. Free is a good price – Check with the college and/or public libraries to see if you can check out the books you’ll need.
5. Previously owned – Check out the prices of used or earlier editions of the textbook.