Textbooks are necessary for most university courses but getting them from the Campus Store can break your bank account. Here’s how to get the most out of your textbooks by looking past the standard avenues.
With the winter term beginning, new classes have released their course materials on the Brock Campus Store website. While these textbooks are often required, they can be quite expensive for struggling students, especially after the holidays. With hundreds of dollars to spend on books on top of tuition, some students may be tempted to forego their textbooks and tackle their courses without them.
This, however, is a poor alternative, as having access to textbooks is often integral to student success. Luckily, there are other ways to get your textbooks without spending exorbitant amounts of money.
First and foremost, the cheapest and best way to get textbooks is through the Brock University Library, which costs exactly nothing. The Brock Library has a large selection of books often used in courses, and if it doesn’t have what you’re looking for, you can request a copy from university libraries across the country. Better yet, the loan period for these books is often an entire term, meaning you don’t have to worry about returning the books before you’re done with them or renewing them too often.
The scope of the library system Brock students can access is staggering, and it’s a waste not to utilize it to offset the cost of your textbooks. The St. Catharines Public Library is less likely to have everything you need, but it is another free, local service worth checking out for course materials if you’re okay with shorter loan periods.
If you’d rather own your textbooks, there are many options to buy them besides the Campus Store, especially if you don’t mind getting them second-hand. Of course, the Campus Store offers used books which can be more cost-efficient, but there are other ways that can be even less of a financial burden.
The Book Outlet, an online-only bookstore that used to have a physical location in St. Catharines, doesn’t sell second-hand books, but they do sell books at a major discount. Their selection is limited, so they might not have what you want, but the search function is simple and books there are often 50 per cent less than sale price or cheaper, so it’s definitely worth looking, especially for novels.
If you have friends in your program, it is always worth asking them if they’ve taken the class. Whether they want to give, loan, or sell their textbooks to you, this is a great way to get course materials. Plus, then you can talk to them about the class to get pointers about the professor and the material. The only way to know is to ask.
Similarly, you can search on second-hand websites like Facebook Marketplace or Kijiji. Many Brock students are already in St. Catharines, so it makes sense that there’s a bountiful market of textbooks for students, sold by students. Second-hand stores like Value Village can have what you want by this same method of reasoning, but it’s less likely. I’ve gotten lucky though, so you might too.
Second-hand bookstores like The Write Bookshop in downtown St. Catharines might have what you’re looking for, but you’ll have to do a lot of searching and you may very well strike out. The prices are worth it though.
Don’t get me wrong, the Campus Store is incredibly convenient — they get you everything you need in one neat little cardboard box — but you pay for that convenience, even if that just means paying the standard price. Even big chains like Indigo sometimes offer sales on the books you need if you look hard enough, and when you’re trying to find discounted books, any savings are good savings. The Campus Store doesn’t have sales on books unless your professor has negotiated something directly with a publisher, which doesn’t happen terribly often. It’s just a matter of carefully considering your options and choosing what’s best for you.
It’s usually better to have the exact version of a textbook as the one on your course list, especially when there are different editions or versions of that book. Different printings of the same content are less of an issue, but different page numbers may trip you up. Some professors are stricter about this, so be sure to check your syllabus, but to me, saving money is more important than nitty-gritty details. Saving money is worth a bit of hassle, and if your professor is strict about a specific edition for use in papers, you can always borrow a classmate’s copy for citations — this is easier if you have friends in your class, but that just goes to show how important it is to make connections!
I like to keep a copy of my textbooks, especially ones in my major, but usually they are never opened again, collecting dust on my shelves or tucked beneath my bed. This is where selling your used textbooks comes into the picture, placing you on the opposite end of any second-hand resources I’ve already mentioned.
You could sell your textbooks to a friend, put them online, or turn them into a used bookstore and get cash or credit toward your winter term books — The Write Bookshop does this, and you’re likely to find other places that do, too.
The Campus Store has a buyback program, but it is quite useless, only handy if you’re looking to get rid of your old textbooks. You can get a quote for your books on their website, but it is only going to be a fraction of what you paid for it. For example, I bought a book last term for roughly $30, but my quoted return is only estimated at $1.50. At that point, I might as well donate it. While more expensive books will likely yield higher return prices, some students agree on the subreddit r/brocku that the buyback system is unreliable and not worth it. Taking the selling process into your own hands will give you the best bang for your buck, presuming there isn’t an online code associated with your textbook. In that case, you’re trapped in the system.
Luckily, the system seems to be shifting toward the trend of OER (Open Educational Resources). Many of my professors have shifted to using free, digital resources in their classrooms thanks likely to the efforts of BUSU through their OER Adoption Grant program, which rewards faculty members for adopting OER practices and for which BUSU VPUA Carleigh Charlton recently won the Student Award for the 2024 Open Education Award for Excellence.
Hopefully, OER is the future of textbooks at Brock and around the world, but for the time being there are still steep costs that can be somewhat circumvented using the methods I’ve listed. Each of them has pros and cons, but you have to weigh them for yourself.
The Campus Store may be the most convenient avenue for buying and selling your course materials, but there are cheaper alternatives if you don’t mind working for it. Believe me, your wallet will thank you.