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Affordable Textbooks

Five Ways to Reduce Your Textbook Costs

  1. Check to see if your textbook is in the Library.
  2. Check for rental options.
  3. Shop around.
  4. Sell your used textbooks.
  5. Don't buy the wrong books!  Carefully enter your class schedule on the bookstore website.

Is Your Textbook in the Library?

  • Some textbooks are placed on reserve in the Library to check out for a limited time within the Library building. Search the Reserves to see if your textbook or other course materials are available this way. 
  • Cannot find your textbook listed on reserve?  Try a search in the Library Catalog with the title and author. Your textbook might be in the Library but not on the course reserve shelf. 
  • If you still cannot find it, ask your instructor to consider placing a copy on reserve in the Library for your class to use.

Check for Rental Options

Rentals can be much cheaper than buying textbooks.

  • Check the Florida Tech Bookstore for rental options. Click the "textbooks" link, then enter your course information and select "Find Materials for Course."  Once the book information appears, use the format dropdown to look for rental prices.
  • Do a Google search for "textbook rentals" to find more options.

Shop Around

Take Advantage of the Florida Tech Bookstore Price Match.

"Under this program, price matching will be honored through the first week of classes, allowing students to shop online early and buy with confidence. If a student comes in after the first week of classes, we will gladly do a price match on that same day.  Any price difference will be refunded to the customer via their original form of payment.  The program includes purchase (used and new) and rental pricing, provided the rental term (number of days available) is comparable.  This program gives students that extra peace of mind knowing they are getting the specific course materials their professors selected — at the lowest possible price."

 

Try these retailers:

AbeBooks

AbeBooks is an online marketplace for books. Millions of brand new books, used books, rare books, and out-of-print books are offered for sale through the AbeBooks websites from thousands of booksellers around the world. Readers can find bestsellers, collectors can find rare books, students can find new and used textbooks, and treasure hunters can find long-lost books.

Amazon.com

The largest online retailer.

Barnes & Noble

Used, new, and rental textbooks for sale.

Campusbooks.com

Buy, rent, and sell your textbooks. Find the lowest price for a textbook. Conduct a local library check for a text. Buy Vs. Rent Tool takes the guesswork out of buying vs.renting textbooks.

CheapestTextbooks.com

Find ebook rentals, used textbooks, new and out-of-print books, and more. Compare book prices, including shipping from over 100,000 booksellers worldwide.

Chegg

Buy, rent and sell textbooks. Free 7-day ebook until physical book is delivered.

eCampus.com

Online retailer of new, used, and electronic textbooks for sale or rent, study materials and book buyback services 

RedShelf

Buy, sell and read - eBooks, textbooks, academic materials, magazines, documents and other digital content at up to 80% below print.

Textbooks.com

Textbooks - that's all we do. Every day we pour more than 40 years of experience into gathering the most books for you, at the best prices.

VitalSource

Rent or buy eTextbooks for up to 80% less than other sources.

Valore Books

At ValoreBooks, we understand how expensive college can be. That's why we give students the option to buy or rent cheap textbooks from over 18,000 verified sellers and rental providers who compete to provide the absolute lowest prices. ValoreBooks also lets you sell text books directly to us at the highest buy back prices online.

Sell Your Used Textbooks

  • Some online retailers that sell used textbooks (see the box above) also buy them back from students.

  • The Florda Tech Bookstore buys back used textbooks.

  • If you drop a course, the Florida Tech Bookstore gives a full refund if you return the textbook(s) within the drop/add period.

Attribution

“Affordable Textbooks: Students: Reduce Your Textbook Costs” by UC Santa Cruz University Library is licensed under CC BY 3.0.