Every semester, I am amazed again at how expensive college text books can be. It is not that there are no ways to buy cheap text books. There absolutely are. The problem is that the professors wait for too long, order too few college text books to the stories, or order them to the wrong stores – the ones that charge the highest prices. If I had time to buy every college text book online, I would never have to pay an exorbitant fee. I would be able to get a good deal on all of my reading material. As it stands, however, there are often not enough used text books to go around. Some classes change their reading material too frequently, while other professors are actually designing new classes every the semester. It is not fair to us poor students.

Some professors – in my opinion the nice ones – get around the problem of expensive college text books by using course packs instead. Course packs are much easier and cheaper alternative to text books. Because you have them printed yourself at copy shops, you can get course packs for a fraction of what college text books cost. There really is no comparison. The only problem is that course packs do not last nearly as long, and often the quality is lower. Because you are making the copies yourself, there can be small errors that slip into a college course pack. Nonetheless, I vastly prefer them to college text books. I do not care that they are more cheaply bound, or that they do not look as pretty. They have all the information that they need, and they are often more up to date than college text books.

If you do have time, you should look at the course materials ahead of time. If you plan it right, you can often get your college text books online by the second week of class. In the meantime, you can keep up on the reading by borrowing the college text books of your classmates. Although this approach can be somewhat inconvenient, it still saves you a lot of money and so is better in the long run. If you are really on the ball, you can find text books used before they run out. Used college text books are often much more affordable than new ones, and they are usually still in pretty good condition. The problem is that they are in such demand. Everyone wants one.