College students are often shocked by the amount they have to pay for college textbooks each semester. If you add it up over the course of the year it can prove to be a very expensive part of your college education. But there are ways to save money when you buy your college textbooks, and here are a few tips on how you can do that.

First of all, recognize that the most expensive option that you will have for buying your college textbooks is to buy them at the school bookstore. Traditionally, university and college bookstores mark up the prices on their college textbooks by quite a bit more than you will find almost anywhere else.

So for instance, if you want to buy the textbooks that you will need for each semester from a college bookstore, you can most likely expect to spend somewhere between $300 - $400 just for that one semester alone. Obviously then, if you double that figure, it would be very easy to spend $600 - $800 for the entire year's worth of textbooks that you will need for your individual classes. And depending on the classes that you are taking, some textbooks may cost well over $100 - $150 apiece, raising your overall costs even more.

There are advantages to buying from a university bookstore however, including the convenience and time saving factors. All you have to do is just visit your campus, go to the bookstore, get your books and pay your money. And most of the time you will be sure to get the exact textbook that you need for the classes you will be taking.

You can however save some money at a school bookstore by asking for used textbooks instead, as these are often sold at a discount. However, many school bookstores don't seem to have much selection when it comes to used college textbooks, so it may not be much of an option.

A second option for buying your college textbooks is to get them from an off campus bookstore instead. The advantages in using this kind of bookstore is that you can usually save money on the price of new college textbooks, and they usually have a better selection of used books as well.

However, the best way to save lots of money on college textbooks is to buy them online at the Amazon or Ebay websites. Here is where you can get your best deals on both new and used college textbooks anywhere. Many students that have taken the course that you will be taking, will be putting their college textbook up online for sale at a greatly reduced price. In fact, if you buy your textbook online at a deep discount and then sell it yourself at the end of the semester, you may wind up having very little overall costs for your college textbooks each year. The only drawback with buying your books online is that there will be some shipping time delay while the books are being sent to you. So be sure that you start your online shopping as soon as the professors lists the required textbooks needed for the coming semester.

Buying college textbooks need not be a very expensive financial burden for most college students. As you can see from this article there are ways that you can dramatically lower your college costs by buying college textbooks for much less.

Steadman Issenburg writes on many consumer related topics including education. You can make a college university search and learn about a life experience college degree and more by visiting our education website.