College Kids Can Save $$$ on Textbooks

The cost of going to college goes higher every year -- especially the costs of textbooks.  Fresh-faced high school grads enrolling in college and signing up for classes often go into "sticker shock" when they go to the campus bookstore to buy the textbooks they need.

There was a time -- in mom and dad's day -- when a student could get all the textbooks she or he needed for a couple of hundred dollars - tops.  Not any more.  Those days are long gone history.

Today's college textbooks cost a fortune. It's common to find books costing over a hundred dollars each, and a student's total book bill can run to more than a thousand dollars - per year. There are reasons for that, and that's another story, but this is about ways to save money on textbooks.

KETK TV in Tyler reports more and more students are avoiding the campus bookstore, and going to used book stores off the campus.

Many are sharing books with classmates, and some make money by renting out the books they used last year. Some make copies from the school library. That's against federal copyright law, but they do it anyway.

The one good thing about buying new textbooks is that you can sell them back at the end of the school year at the campus bookstore and off campus book stores.

Note to self:  keep your books in good condition so you can get money back for them. It's usually just half what you paid for them, but it's better than nothing.