Aside from tuition and the other assorted fees that come from attending college via distance learning, one of the biggest budget busters is textbooks. Depending upon the program, some college textbooks can cost $100-$200. But, it's required reading, right? You might think you have no choice but to shell out the big bucks for a single book, but there are other alternatives.
Great college textbook deals can be had online, if you know where to look. My personal favorite is Half.com. Don't let the name of the web site fool you...you can save much more than 50 percent on college textbooks here. For example, the 2006 edition of "Contemporary Business" sells normally retails for $106.95, but on Half.com you can find a brand new edition for about $50, and you can pay as little as $23 if you're willing to make do with a heavily-used textbook.
But, the savings don't end there. One fact you might not be aware of is that textbooks don't really change much from one year's edition to the next. They essentially have the same information, with a few differences. If a student were to purchase the 2003 edition of "Contemporary Business" on Half.com's sister site, eBay, they could find it for $1.99 ...a savings of about $104 over the retail price of the new edition!
Amazon.com is another great place to find deals on textbooks. Used editions of the 2006 version of Contemporary Business can be had on Amazon for about $24. Bookbyte.com specializes in selling used college textbooks. Prices for Contemporary Business can be found there for prices ranging from $1.95 to about $59.
There is another way around the extra expense of textbooks. Some college programs include textbooks in the price of tuition. Penn Foster College and Ashworth University send textbooks directly to the student along with the rest of their course materials. American Military University offers a book grant to undergraduate students, which basically provides textbooks at no cost. Other colleges, such as California Coast University, offer textbook rental services. The textbooks must be returned when the student is finished using them, but such services offer dramatic cost savings over actually purchasing the book.
If you have a well-stocked public library system, you could always check out the textbooks you need for free. Of course you might need the textbooks longer than the usual 2-4 week check-out period, but some will let you extend your checkout period. If worse comes to worse, you may pay a few dollars in late charges, but it's still cheaper than actually purchasing the book. Before racking up late charges at your library, you may want to check and see what kind of penalties and fees you would be subject to if you return a book late.
If that still isn't cheap enough for you, how about textbooks that you can access from your own home and they won't cost you a dime? There are a few web sites that now make textbooks available online for free. Textbookrevolution.org, The Internet Public Library (www.ipl.org), Bartleby.com and Google Scholar all offer resources for free textbooks on the Internet. Some colleges also make select textbooks available online.
While the cost of tuition may be rising at colleges and universities, that doesn't mean you have to dig deep to pay for your textbooks. Explore a little online, and you may be able to find even more resources to help you save plenty of money even before it's time to hit the books!