2. Save your money on textbooks! Here are some tips on how to save your money at school and beat the system – don’t buy those extremely expensive textbooks just yet.
I remember my first year at UBCO when I was in the biology program I had paid full price for all my textbooks for the first semester. Had I known then what I know now, I probably would have easily saved a couple hundred bucks. Imagine how many coffees I could have bought with that money. I could have afforded so many bagels!
After I had finished my first year, I realized I didn’t even open some of the books I bought and barely touched any of the books that were “required” for that class. When my second year attending UBCO had approached, I swear I wouldn’t waste any more money. So I waited to buy my textbooks after the first week of the Fall semester started. Now, this is pretty risky because some classes will assign you homework from the text during the very first week, especially, for 3 hour classes. Sometimes hunting for a textbook can take up to a week but it all depends on your bargaining skills. It’s definitely worth it as I am able to save HUNDREDS of dollars on textbooks and on average, spend at most $50-$100 every semester by buying used books and re-selling them.
In my second year, I was in a sociology course and after class I asked my professor if he had any extra textbooks lying around. I was honest and told him that I couldn’t afford the required text and asked if he had any extras lying around that I could borrow for a couple hours then return it. He understood my situation and actually gave me an older edition of the required text FOR FREE. He told me that this textbook would be fine but the pages would be different. We had a discussion about the business behind selling these required textbooks but that’s a discussion for you to have with your own professor.
One of the first questions I would ask my professors at the beginning of the semester, after these introduction classes (also known as, let’s go through the entire syllabus), was how often we would be using the required text. The second question I would ask is if they had any extra textbooks lying around. KPU has a special program for students with financial hardships that will help support the cost of textbooks. But this would definitely need to be a special case.
Once you figure out what books you really need from your classes, Amazon will be your best friend. Right now they’re doing a special promotion for students where you get free prime membership for 6 months. This prime membership allows you to receive anything that is prime eligible in only 2 business days but you must be a new member of Amazon Student. Also, I’m sure most of you already know about bcbookworm.com (Kwantlen’s buy/sell used textbook site) and the KPU buy/sell Facebook pages. Regardless, be sure to scope out these sites before you give in to buying brand spanking new textbooks.
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