PriceSCAN Blog

Each year around this time I like to remind students that they may not be getting the best possible deal on required course reading if they make their purchases at their campus bookstore. To guard against overpaying, it's a good idea to get your syllabi in advance, check your school store's prices and use PriceSCAN.com's book price comparison service to see if you can get a better deal by buying online.
Now some might argue that encouraging students to eschew on-campus book purchases may deny institutions of higher learning much needed revenue, be it from a school-owned store, a chain operating on campus under license or a student co-op forced to kick back to the school. So if you're concerned about supporting your college or university, I have a suggestion. Take the money you save buying books online and invest it for the very long term. After three or four decades you could find yourself with a tidy sum, enough that when the time comes to secure a legacy placement for that underachieving offspring, you may find the admissions committee far more understanding ("a distinguished and generous alumnus like yourself should know we'd never judge an applicant purely on the basis of academic performance, or a police record … "). Or, consider letting those funds keep growing until you're in your golden years, and let it be known you're thinking about leaving the stash to your school. You'll find officers and faculty of the university listening attentively to your views on the academic enterprise, interrupting only to considerately inquire as to the state of your health.
But for now, if you and/or your folks are laboring to pay a backbreaking tuition bill while the specter of student loan payback looms on the horizon, why not give yourself a little financial aid and compare book prices online?