Comments on: 4 Ways Students Can Save Thousands a Year

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 18 May 2010 03:02:11 +0000

We love using Chegg to rent textbooks instead of buying them and save a lot of money! I wanted to share a promotional code that your readers can use to get a discount on their text order. Put in the code when ordering and hit the “apply” button. The code also gives you back an additional $5 when selling Chegg your used texts.

The code does NOT have an expiration date so it can be used at anytime. Here it is:

CC123047

Feel free to pass this to anyone who wants to save money!

By: William

William — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:21:21 +0000

One of the best places I have found to purchase textbooks is Uloop http://ow.ly/YfW7 — They connect students with other students so all transactions are local, which means you don’t have to worry about shipping anything. Also, unlike Amazon & eBay they don’t take a cut. This means books are cheaper (buyer) as well as more profitable (seller).

By: Dana

Dana — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:07:18 +0000

I once thought only a foolish person would pay to rent a book when they could just sell it after for more than rental savings. Turns out, I was the foolish person. I did always find good deals on new books but realized that I NEVER resold my books and, when I did, it was never for more than $50. This year I was going to pay $150 on a good deal for a new book and ended up renting for half that since the sell-back price of this book was $12.00. So I saved $75 by renting.

Another note on international versions (since I have done this in the past) is that it is actually some type of legal violation to use them in the U.S. That being said, I did this for an economics class two years ago and, to my dismay, discovered that, while 99% of the text was accurate, the EXERCISE PROBLEMS had differences. Either the scenario was different or the numbers within the problems were different. Imagine my shock when I got a low grade for getting the right answers….to the wrong problems. So buyers beware.

By: Percy

Percy — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:53:46 +0000

For my first two years of undergraduate, I purchased one book and still managed to do very well in school. What it took was a lot of proactivity on my part. 1) Email the professors several weeks before the start of the semester: by that point, they know what the required texts are. 2) Look for the books at the library first. 3) Scour Amazon and Half.com. You can often find earlier editions sold cheaply (although you may want to ask the professor if an earlier edition is okay). 4) Find a book buddy: Someone who is either willing to share a book with you or purchase one book for a class while you purchase the other. I eventually purchase many books during my academic career, but those books are still on my shelf and still in use.

By: Griff Hanning

Griff Hanning — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:42:41 +0000

Great tips! I love creative money saving ideas especially for young people!

I have found lots of money saving advice at http://financilasecrets101.com, http://ingdirect.com, and of course http://mint.com.

Let’s keep up the good work- saving money is easier than people think.

By: Financial Planning

Financial Planning — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:56:06 +0000

I don’t buy food for my friends. Most students used to buy food for their friends, they should stop doing that.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:54:43 +0000

http://BookLookr.com is a great place to save money on textbooks too, compares across several shopping sites to get the lowest price on the books you need

By: Tara

Tara — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:09:50 +0000

Good article! One more tip: look out for internet deals instead of getting on the bus. I bought my car online for much less than in the dealership. Research your local dealerships, and get some free cash for down payment. I got $1000 from this site. http://www.mediancs.com/rd_p?p=192462&t=9534&a=25081-scash&gift=25081

By: Waleed Al-Balooshi

Waleed Al-Balooshi — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:22:31 +0000

Thanks for the excellent advice, but I wanted to add a little to your first point about renting books. Renting books has not always been the cheapest alternative that I have found to acquire my books. Rented books can’t be sold, so what you pay is the actual price of the book. On the other hand, when you buy books you can sell them and the difference between the purchase price and selling price would be your actual book price.

Though I do agree that buying books from the Univ bookstore then selling it back at fractions of the cost is a ripoff; I have to say that buying my books from sites like amazon or half.com then selling them back at the end of the semester for 10 – 15 dollars less works very well. When you factor in shipping and handling, you end up with a book that only cost around $20.00.

There are some cons to this strategy, including:

1. It might take some time to sell your books
2. If new editions come out, then you are stuck selling the older edition for less money.

Another alternative that sometimes works is trying to find my books at the local library or University library. This doesn’t always work, but once in a while I am surprised to find out that I can find a book at the library and save my self around $120.00.

By: Frances

Frances — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 01:56:11 +0000

Thanks. For me, I use http://www.DealOz.com to buy and sell textbooks. I’ve saved lots of money with their great prices and store coupons. Also you can use
http://www.dealoz.com to sell your books
too!