Cheap Textbook Rentals

First of all, don’t worry about getting your textbooks immediately. While they’re definitely one of the most important tools you’ll need at school, most professors don’t expect students to show up to class on the first day with the textbook for the course. Some will even tell you the textbook is optional.

My first year, I panicked over buying a textbook and ended up overpaying. I was skimming through the syllabus for a Spanish course I was taking the next morning, and part of the syllabus said to have the textbook ready for class every day. I debated with myself whether that included the first day of class. Well, the bookstore closed in 15 minutes and my class started promptly at 8 a.m. the next morning, so I didn’t have much time to decide. I literally jogged across campus to make it to the bookstore before it closed. In my rush, I bought the extended version of the textbook. It was the correct version, but I spent an extra $60.00 or so on material I wouldn’t need. The next morning, half the class didn’t have their textbook, and the professor wasn’t worried at all. I felt ridiculous. I had freaked out for no reason.
If your professor doesn’t explicitly say to have the textbook ready for the first class meeting, don’t worry about it. Course materials can be really pricey even without accidentally buying too much of them. Additionally, many textbooks now come with online codes that are easy to mix up. It’s in your best interest to wait for the syllabus or consult with the professor about what you need and when you need it.
Once you know what you need, you can search a few different places. Just don’t buy the first option you see. Most places charge a lot for textbooks, but if you’re patient, you can find something a little cheaper. This is especially true if you’re willing to buy a used copy. Amazon is an easy place to start for any kinds of textbooks, workbooks, or general literature. They’ll often offer used options to buy.

You can also rent some materials from the UNC Charlotte bookstore. This includes both textbooks and smaller books like autobiographies, fiction novels or anything outside of the “textbook” type. If the renting option is available, you can keep the book for the whole semester and return it when you’re finished. It’s always cheaper than buying.
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Founded in 2007 by Eric Frank and Jeff Shelstad, FlatWorld Knowledge was intended to combat the high cost of college textbooks by publishing low-cost, quality educational materials, often in digital formats. Over the years, however, the company shifted from its original plans in the textbook market to focus on other educational materials offering higher margins.

In 2016, the company was acquired by Alastair Adam and John Eielson, two information publishing entrepreneurs who returned FlatWorld to its original concept of providing students access to high-quality textbooks at low prices. “We saw that FlatWorld had a lot of goodwill in the marketplace and that there was a lot of recognition of the brand,” Adam said. They dropped the word knowledge from the name and rebranded the company FlatWorld, and moved it from the Washington D.C. area to the Boston area, where their previous ventures had been located.

Adam described a textbook marketplace that is currently divided between traditional publishers charging high prices for their titles and open source vendors offering free digital content. Adam said there’s a third way: a sustainable business model based on fair pricing. In an online article addressing the issue, Adam wrote that publishers “can set prices that are fair to all involved parties—students, authors, and publishers.”

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Each semester begins with both excitement and nervousness as students mill about campus trying to find their classes and figure out where they can do homework between classes.

Inevitably, many conversations heard by a passerby will pertain to what students believe are outrageous textbook prices. From a $182.70 sociology textbook to an $18 women’s and gender studies book, students seem to always have an opinion on what they’re paying.

Iowa State estimates undergraduate students will spend more than $500 on textbooks and supplies each semester in the 2018-19 academic year.

The cost at the University Bookstore has lead many students to pursue alternative purchasing options like Amazon.

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