Each semester in college brings new challenges. Where are you going to live? What classes are you going to take? How many credit hours can you withstand? Should you get a job? One persistent question, however, always emerges. How will I pay for my textbooks this semester? Textbooks are, unfortunately, a necessity in college, and a single course can have multiple textbooks. Those prices add up quickly. So, what should you do? This article helps you navigate where to find textbooks, how to pay for them, and how to evaluate if you even need them.

First, you should search for what textbooks you need, in various ways, with different universities. Your university will likely have a website for your campus bookstore. You can type in your student ID, which will pull up your textbooks for all your courses. If all other mechanisms fail, email your future professors for textbook information. They can tell you books are required. They might even point you in the right direction to find your textbook list.

Once you have a list of all required textbooks, you should search and see if you need these textbooks. This is where talking to others and asking around will help tremendously. Your best bet is to ask someone who already took the course. “Hey, is the textbook listed for that class required?” There is a possibility that it is not. If it is not required, you do not have to buy that textbook! Some universities require their professors to submit a textbook request, even if they do not have a required textbook. Make sure to double-check!

So, the textbook, with a steep cost, is required at this point. You should check to see if your university has a textbook loan program. A lot of libraries keep beginner-level popular textbooks at the facility to help low-income students avoid the cost of paying for expensive textbooks. You can typically check these books out for a few hours, though your library might require you to stay within the building while you have the textbook in your possession. Despite this, the option still might be better than paying hundreds of dollars for a textbook you might only use a handful of times.

You can also check if there is a free textbook PDF somewhere online. Especially if it is an older textbook or accessible to the public for free, you should do a quick google search to see if it pops up. There are plenty of legal PDFs of books. Many textbooks create newer editions and put the older outdated versions online, which sometimes do not have any significant differences. Keep an eye on your email too. Your professor may send the class a free copy of your required textbook online!

If you expend all your options and need to buy the textbook, it is not an entirely lost cause! You will want to start by making price comparisons through various websites and your on-campus bookstore. Most students default to Amazon at this point. While you can do this, it is not your only option. Some websites exist as textbook depositories. A quick google search can help you find the more popular textbooks Shop around! If all else fails, Amazon will not go anywhere. It is also possible that your on-campus bookstore does price matching and will match whatever price Amazon has on its website. Wherever is the cheapest, that is where you should go!

Getting textbooks for the first time can create significant financial stress. With the proper resources, buying textbooks can be as simple as asking around or looking online. You likely will not read a textbook in its entirety for class. Remember that finding a few chapters of the book can help you. If you suspect you will use the book for multiple courses, or if it is just a beneficial book for you, make the leap and buy it.

However, with comparison shopping, you can find the textbook somewhere cheap that will make your wallet happier. If you ever feel like you cannot afford your textbooks, you can even take out a student loan to pay back later. Whatever the case, buying a textbook should be the least of your concern for a class!