I recently wrote about the high cost of college textbooks and ways students could save on the costs.

Internet sites like Half.com, chegg.com and bookfinder.com, either sell or rent books at costs way below your typical bookstore.

After my story a couple of Baltimore entrepreneurs called to tell me they too had just launched a Website for textbooks - textspotter.com.

The site, started by new college graduates Jimmy Slatkin and Ben Rosin, is a price comparison engine that launched earlier this week. Slatkin and Rosin, old friends from the Park School, said the service will save students more than $100 per semester, or $5 to $80 per book.

A couple of readers also wrote in to say that Bookholders on York Road in Towson is also a good place to buy textbooks. The retailer's website also says they have a store in College Park.

Posted by Andrea Walker at 9:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Cheap/Frugal, Shopping, textbooks
        

Students are having a hard enough time paying for tuition this year with their parents losing jobs and more people competing for financial aid.

Textbook prices only make things worse, adding hundreds of dollars to the cost of a higher education.

The price of textbooks has been a touchy subject for years with the General Assembly weighing in this year with legislation designed to ease the prices, which increased 186 percent from 1986 to 2004. Maketextbooksaffordable.org is a website that was designed to focus on the issue.

Luckily these days there are plenty of options for students to buy their books other than the campus bookstore. Chegg.com and campusbookrentals.com are sites where students can rent books. Half.ebay.com and Amazon.com offer books at prices much lower than the full retail price. Bookfinder.com will compare the price of a textbook on various Internet sites.

Continue reading "Think textbook prices are too high, try these alternatives" »

Posted by Andrea Walker at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: College/Financial aid, textbooks