School’s in session, and that means dropping a load of money on fat, new college textbooks—or does it?

There is so much for you to learn and so much to do, but fear not, frugee, I have made your life simple by giving you an easy step-by-step method based on my experience and research.

Here’s my BOOK SAVINGS FRUGEE STRATEGEE…

1. FIND OUT WHAT BOOKS ARE OFFICIALLY REQUIRED for each class. And find out which ones are optional.

HOW: Check the school’s web site and official bookstore. Write down the title, volume/edition, copyright year, author’s name, publisher and ISBN for each book.

2. FIND OUT WHAT BOOKS ARE REALLY REQUIRED. I’ve seen professors absent-mindedly put books on the “required” list that are really more for your “personal benefit.” So don’t be shy about giving them a call or sending an email asking which books are really necessary for the class. They’re usually understanding if you’re polite and tell them about your desire to stretch your finances.

HOW: With a little poking around, you can often find professors’ email addresses and phone numbers. Search on the school Web site. Sometimes teachers have Web pages for themselves, or even for specific classes they teach. Check those out. If you don’t have much luck doing that, call the department that teacher works in.

3. LOOK ONLINE FOR FREE DIGITAL VERSIONS. Chances are pretty good that you’ll be reading some “classics” during your college career. Many older works are not protected by copyright, and you’ll be able to find free versions online.
HOW: Check out these sites.
http://www.coursesmart.com/

http://www.ipl.org/

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://scholar.google.com/

http://www.bartleby.com/ Here you can download eBooks.

4. ASK YOUR PROFESSOR TO LEND A BOOK. I’ve seen professors loan their own text books (sometimes they have extra) to students with heavy financial burdens. But don’t tell the other students, or the teacher might dump this special treatment! Seriously!

DON’T: I recommend that you don’t trying to borrow a required text from the library for the whole semester. You will run into a big problem when other people start requesting the same book right before a big test.

5. LOOK ONLINE FOR BARGAINS. The Internet makes price comparison easy.  Here’s a few sites that do just that:

http://www.comparetextbook.com/

http://www.booksprice.com/

http://cheapesttextbooks.com/

http://www.bigwords.com/

Also check out:

http://www.alibris.com/

http://www.abebooks.com/

http://www.half.ebay.com/

http://www.amazon.com/ When I was in college, I used Amazon.com and saved sometimes more than $100 a semester.

6. SHOP AT THE SCHOOL BOOKSTORE AT LAST. Because they can, school bookstores often have higher prices compared to deals you can find online and elsewhere. So, get what you can somewhere else. However, for some things you will want to go to the school bookstore: extremely useful day planners with academic deadlines already in them, hard-to-find works written by specific professors, curriculum and other materials compiled by professors.

HOW: Most college bookstores have used books at discount prices, so, when available, buy those instead of new ones. You should get to the bookstore and start purchasing before the semester starts, though, because used books often sell out.

7. STILL WANT MORE INFO? These are some of the sources I used, and you’ll find more ideas there.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26161407/

http://distancelearn.about.com/od/managingyourwork/a/cheaptextbook.htm
http://www.smartmoney.com/deal-of-the-day/index.cfm?story=20080804-save-on-college-textbooks

If you’ve got any other smart tips, leave them here!

Hunting for more frugee tips,

Inspector Inexpensive