The question that seems to plague so many students is how to get cheap college textbooks. Renting textbooks and reselling textbooks can be a pain, plus textbooks are heavy to carry around. As a student, I have discovered what I think is the alternative to textbooks–etextbooks. Okay, okay, I know, it’s really not that big of a revelation. However, I want to make a case of why you should buy etextbooks and prove to you that you can get college textbooks cheaper.
5 Reasons for Electronic Textbooks
- eTextBooks are environmentally friendly
- eTextBooks are light to carry because you always have them with you on a phone, tablet or computer. Yes, that means you can have a textbook on your iPad or iPhone.
- eTextBooks are easier to search through using the “Search” feature
- eTextBooks can be easily bookmarked, printed, shared, and used just like any other college textbook
- eTextBooks are cheaper than college textbooks
Best Place to Buy Digital Textbooks Online
The place I have fallen in love with online is CourseSmart. There are truly MORE SAVINGS with CourseSmart. Save up to 60%!
I have downloaded countless textbooks on my iPhone and iPad–from psychology to marketing to literature to finance, CourseSmart has the answer for getting college textbooks cheaper.
The Math: Cheaper College Textbooks
The average textbook costs about $150. On CourseSmart the average is about $70. That is major savings. I can be on the beach and have 6 textbooks with me and I am only using my iPad to read textbooks. Let’s say the average student buys 5 textbooks a semester. Well that’s about $750 if you are buying normal textbooks. If you are buying etextbooks you would only spend about $350. That’s a $400 difference. That’s the price of many tablets. So, now let’s say you invest in an iPad at about $600. If you were to do only etextbooks for one whole year of college (2 semesters), you could buy a total of 10 textbooks and the mid-range iPad and spend the same exact amount as one year of heavy, tedious, paper textbooks. After 4 years of college, that is almost a $2,500 dollar savings if you were to purchase an iPad going into your first semester of your freshman year of college and only buying electronic textbooks all four years.
So, the answer to how to get college textbooks cheaper is to switch to electronic textbooks. The reasons for etextbooks speak for themselves!
*please note the links used in this post are affiliate links.