Saving money on college textbooks

If you've ever been a college student, you know that nothing is more of a downer than purchasing text books every semester. I once spent a whopping $800 on text books for a single semester. I majored in the sciences and took several lab courses at once, several of which required not only textbooks, but lab books, study guides and one organic chemistry kit. Talk about sticker shock! So, why are those textbooks so expensive and what can you do about it?

According to The Atlantic, the cost of course materials has risen 812 percent since 1978. Publishers say that creating textbooks is expensive and labor-intensive. Few professors take into account the price of a book before assigning it. Publishers increase their profits by churning out new editions constantly with little updated except for the (usually) useless accompanying software.

For some courses, what choice do you have but to buy the book? Sure, you can chance using the few copies the library has, but what if someone has it checked out right before a test? You'd be out of luck. Some students choose to forego buying textbooks altogether. Sometimes, the choice is a textbook or food for the month. Which would you choose?

Students now have more options than even I did in my first year of college. Used books are more available, rental programs are increasing in popularity and open textbooks are making textbooks more affordable for students. The rental option seems particularly attractive; CampusBookRentals is offering $29 rentals for the summer semester. That's a huge savings over purchasing a book. And really, are you ever going to use that textbook again after the class is over? Probably not. Information changes so frequently in most fields that a textbook becomes obsolete in a couple of years, if not sooner.

To save money when I was in college, we often put up flyers to sell or swap our books. We'd also take classes with friends when possible to share books and split the costs. How did you save on textbooks when you attended college?

Image courtesy opensourceway via Flickr.