By Saira Bajwa
As textbook bills continue to put a dent in students’ bank accounts, researching cheaper sources for books online may be worth the while.
Recent studies peg the cost of textbooks at $500 per semester for the average undergraduate student, adding up to a grand total of $4000 over the span of an undergraduate college career. As textbook prices climb even higher, students are seeking cheaper sources to find the books they need. It seems like the easiest option is the Internet.
The best places to start are textbook price comparison search engine sites such as www.Comparetextbook.com, www.Bestwebbuys.com and www.Anybook4less.com, all of which provide price comparisons among online bookstores like www.half.com, www.ecampus.com, www.amazon.com, and www.booksamillion.com. These Web sites also compare the item’s condition, availability, delivery time and shipping price offered by each vendor, allowing a student to choose the cheapest, fastest or the newest merchandise from a host of options.
Many students prefer to seek out those vendors whose shipping policies do not put an even bigger dent in their pockets. Often students are required to purchase more than one text per class which could potentially lead to very high shipping costs even if the books are a steal. Such is the case with www.half.com, which offers cheap textbooks but counteracts savings with its high shipping rates. It is, however, cost-effective for those pricier texts.
Online bookstores such as www.barnesandnoble.com offer free shipping with a $25 dollar purchase and www.booksamillion.com offers free shipping on all purchases with an annual club fee of $10.
Students on a budget can also scour the maze of Web sites by looking into www.textbookx.com, www.bigwords.com, www.addall.com and www.isbn.nu.
Although the Internet may seem like the best option to students who can afford the luxury of time, there are those who can opt to avoid these by browsing www.alibris.com or www.bestbookdeal.com for the best deals on textbooks in neighborhood bookstores, which would allow for easy pickup.
“You can never trust people online to send you the book on time or for that matter at all,” Nida Siddiqui, a senior accounting major, said.
And while finding a good deal is great, nothing can beat free books. Sites such as www.Bartleby.com, www.Gutenberg.org and even the Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org) provide thousands of free literature and reference materials.
