At this point, we’ve succumbed to the Bison Book Bundle.
Its opt-out deadline passed on Sept. 2, making the coming explainer likely too little, too late. But for future reference, it’s still worth clearing the air on some of the best methods for getting college textbooks free; or for as cheap as possible.
Many students have told The Globe that the convenience of the Book Bundle is too difficult to pass up, regardless of its semi-premium price point. Other students say the cost is actually cheaper than what they would have paid without it.
It’s absolutely true that the Bison Book Bundle is an efficient method for getting books. Text-heavy majors, especially within the School of Arts & Sciences, likely save a considerable amount with its $375 price point.
And that price is wrapped into each students’ bill for the semester, meaning it can be covered by scholarships and loans. But there are still much cheaper methods of getting books.
Point Park’s library, for one, has a laundry list of options for those looking to save on their textbooks.
A decent chunk of curriculum-required textbooks are offered for checkout by the library, completely for free. While materials are limited for rent within three hour windows, and can’t leave the library, there is a workaround.
Many PDF scanners litter the library’s tables, which can be used to scan and save chapters of the required texts. Those scans can then be printed, or emailed to the student’s university email. Scans aren’t always clear reads, but they can get the job done in a pinch.
For gen-ed classes like English and Oral Communication, the textbook problem is usually covered by that solution. But for major-specific courses with niche books not carried by the library, the solution is not always clear.
By emailing the library with the exact metrics of the needed book (Title, Author, Edition, and ISBN), they can contact a different university’s library for the requested text. Upon its arrival, that book can be kept for months before it needs to be returned.
It’s better done sooner rather than later, though, as the process described above can take up to two weeks.
So, in terms of legal and free strategies, the Point Park library is where to go. But if you have a budget, and time, consider renting.
Renting used is the cheapest, and the university’s book store can have a used rental ready faster than any other service. It usually takes the store a day or two to find and have the book ready for pickup, so plan ahead for that.
The cheapest rental option, even cheaper than used rentals from the bookstore, are rentals from Amazon. While they take longer to arrive because they have to be mailed, Amazon rentals sometimes take up to 90% off of the regular price of textbooks.
There are other sites like Thriftbooks which can sometimes have extremely cheap buy-to-own texts rather than renting — even cheaper than Amazon rentals. That is more useful for novels and non-traditional textbooks. Of the listed options, Thriftbooks takes the longest to arrive at about a week.
There are plenty of other not-as-legal but cheaper options available that The Globe does not endorse, but readers are free to experiment with those how they see fit.
