There is no denying it. College textbooks are expensive. You can buy a huge Stephen King hardcover book for less than $30 but a small textbook often costs more than $50. Also, your average campus bookstore has little competition unlike your standard bookstore, which gives them little incentive to discount books. Bargains are hard to come by in the college textbook market, yet you can still shave a few percent off your total bill. There are several discounts available for college students. This may not sound like much but when the average bill for a full time student is $300-$500 per semester, a modest saving like 10% is worth $30-$50. Not too bad.

Tips to reduce your textbook costs

Buy from other students. Bypass the bookstore entirely -- the cheapest way to get textbooks is still from your fellow students. The person who took the class the semester before is perfectly willing to sell his/her book to you for a 30-50% loss instead of to the campus bookstore (where he or she will have a 50%-75% loss). Plus, you can bargain with other students. Try doing that at your campus bookstore! Just make sure the same book/edition is still used and hasn't been replaced by a new edition or book. Some colleges make it easier for students to sell books to each other by having a book sale or a special bulletin board where students can sell their books.

Buy used. Used books at your campus bookstore generally sell for around 25% less than new. Also, used books and new books have the SAME buyback value at the end of the semester. Additionally, if your college bookstore doesn't carry used books or if they are out of stock, many of the online bookstores listed below on this page also carry used books. You can save even more on online auction sites and marketplaces like eBay, Half.com and Amazon.com (with the downside of not being able to return books if you decide to drop a course).

"Guaranteed Buyback" books are not necessarily better than used. Don't automatically assume that a book with a "Guaranteed Buyback" is cheaper than a used book. Only buy new books with a "Guaranteed Buyback" when the price of the book minus the buyback value is less than what a used book costs. "Guaranteed Buybacks" benefit you the most if the book is not used next semester or if the bookstore is overstocked (which happens frequently).

Look for other college bookstores in your area. Pick up a phone book and look under "Bookstores, College." You will be surprised at how many independent college bookstores there are. Many are located a few blocks from your university and charge a lot less than the bookstore on campus. Also, some of these independent bookstores offer more money when buying back textbooks.

Check your local Barnes and Noble, Borders, Waldenbooks etc. Normally, your average bookstore is not as good a deal as a college bookstore (primarily because of the limited textbook selection and lack of used books). However, you can find some deals on books for English and Computer Science courses.

Check the Internet. Online college bookstores generally have a much larger selection of used books. Furthermore, you can find some real deals on auction sites and online marketplaces. There is one big problem with the Internet, shipping. You have to pay for it and wait for it. Also, be aware that some Internet college bookstores do not refund shipping if you have to return a book. Make sure you read return policies very closely to avoid surprises. Auction sites and online marketplaces do not generally accept returns at all unless you get the wrong item or it differs significantly from the description listed by the seller.

While textbooks cost more than normal books and the less said about the on-campus Burger King the better, software is one of the few true bargains you will find in college. Many software companies will give an educational discount of 70% or more off retail and a few will even give their software away for free to students.

With discounts like these, I recommend you stock up on software before you graduate. This is the one thing I miss most from my college days.

Also, there are more than a few kind-hearted programmers who give their software away for free to everyone, even non-students.

The Campus Store vs. The Internet Store - the one advantage that the campus store has over Internet stores is convenience. All you have to do is pull out your student ID and credit card and a few minutes later you are walking out the door with your software, provided the lines aren't too long of course.

Shopping at an Internet store is slightly more difficult. Internet stores still have to check your student ID. Unfortunately, technology still hasn't advanced far enough where you can just wave your ID at the monitor (shouldn't we have had that technology since 1984?). Instead, you have to fax or email a copy of your student ID to the Internet store. Therefore, get friendly with someone with a scanner (or go shipping for one on my Computer page).

However, Internet stores have a big advantage – selection. While your campus store is lucky to have even a hundred titles, most Internet stores have thousands of titles. Prices are competitive even when factoring in shipping, so shop around!

New vs. Used Software - You buy used textbooks, why not buy used software? A quick scan of eBay will reveal that used software will sell at a fraction of the original price, even beating academic prices. However, buying used software is not without risks. Sometimes new versions just add (unnecessary features. However, just as often critical features like new OS support, is added. Plus, one man's bloat is another man's must have feature. Therefore, I recommend you always consider new software first, but if you are short on cash, are feeling adventurous, or best yet, know what you are doing, go with used software.

Free vs. Commercial Software - And by free, I mean software given away by the creators for no cost, not warez downloaded off Kazaa. Anyway, the old adage, "you get what you pay for" doesn't apply when it comes to software. There is some free software out there that I won't live without. Having said that, usually there is a reason why companies can ask for and get money for their software – it is simply better than the free alternatives.

Most commercial software companies will have a trail version. I recommend you download it and compare it with the free alternatives. If the free software works well enough for you, by all means use it. But don't be surprised if you "have to" buy some software.

The bad news is due to extreme competition and slim profit margins, you generally don't find any academic discounts on computer hardware. The good news is that because of that same competition and slim profit margins you can find some awesome prices on hardware, even if it doesn't have an academic discount.

OEM vs. Retail - Companies like Dell, HP/Compaq and Gateway rarely manufacture all of the parts in the systems they sell. Instead, they buy their computer parts from manufacturers familiar to consumers, manufacturers like ATI, Western Digital, Kingston, etc.

These manufactures create special versions of their products, know as OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or white box products, for sale to companies like Dell. Since these products are never intended to reach the retail shelves, they lack the colorful boxes for the retail versions (this is origin of the term "white box"). However, most of the time, the hardware is identical no matter what "box" it ships in.
OEM products are sometimes available for the consumer to buy. The good news is that prices are frequently lower than retail versions of the same product. However, OEM products sometimes lack more than just the colorful box, things like manuals, cables and, worst of all, warranties are missing.

Carefully consider what is missing before deciding if the discount offered by OEM products is really worth it.

New vs. Used - If you don't mind buying "obsolete" (more than six months old) hardware, auction sites like eBay are a great source for slightly slower yet drastically cheaper hardware. However, buying used has two significant drawbacks, no warranty and no tech support. Therefore, I recommend that you only buy used hardware if you know something about computers and are prepared to buy more stuff if the hardware goes south.