Once you start the academic term it will become clear that you will have to spend some of your money on buying academic course books, regardless of what you are studying. The course you are on will however affect the cost of the books, the specialist materials you will need and how up-to-date the books will have to be. Law, computing and IT books will always have to be the newest editions but for other courses (for example, English and Maths) older editions will probably suffice.
Don’t be tempted to buy all the books on your academic list. The list can usually be sub-divided into primary and secondary reads – only the primary compulsory core textbooks should be purchased.
Buying Online
There are so many websites where you can buy your textbooks. Amazon operates as a normal online retailer but when searching for your desired book, a marketplace option comes up. That means if there is second hand edition of the book available you can buy it direct from the seller via Amazon. In contrast to eBay the books are fixed price but it can still be a viable way of saving you money.
There are also comparison websites (findprice.co.uk , find-book.co.uk, bookdepository.co.uk and bookbrain.co.uk) which you can use to help find the lowest cost of the book on the internet. Again, remember the cost of postage will increase the overall cost of the book.
Bigwords.com is an American website for buying academic books - it will search all online book sellers comparing the different costs allowing you to choose the book with the cheapest shipping costs.
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Buying Elsewhere
Most universities will have a bookshop on campus which they are in alliance with. Shop around before you buy from them - they are unlikely to be the cheapest. Bookstores out-with of campus, are not likely to have the academic books available all year round, they may have to be ordered specifically for you, but they often have discount days reducing the cost.
Most universities will have notice boards with students trying to sell their books from the previous year; as long as the editions match up this can be an inexpensive way to get the books for your course. Books exchanged this way may be annotated and highlighted but this will just save you from doing it – take advantage. There are some good websites which act as “virtual notice boards” for student book exchanges – sellstudentbooks.com and studentbooks.co.uk.
Your union may also have a second hand book exchange and charity shops near a university may have old academic books – have a look at Oxfam.org.uk/shop~. Greeenmetropolis.com is an online retailer selling all used books at a fixed price with free delivery.
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