<p>Does everyone just purchase these from the college bookstore or is there a cheaper alternative? I found that people do sell them on ebay, but how does the student know ahead of time which books he needs? Must you wait for the 1st day of class? Our family is trying to save money wherever possible, so any hints from parents who have been through this before would be very much appreciated.</p>
<p>DDs buy & sell whatever they can on Amazon.com. It only takes a few days to receive them and they are in good condition.</p>
<p>Some profs post their syllabi on their websites ahead of time so you can purchase books online. Make sure you have the correct edition especially for science textbooks.
Also, campus bookstores often sell used copies of textbooks.</p>
<p>Our profs generally email us during the summer or winter break to tell us what books we’ll need. Otherwise profs don’t expect us to have the text until a week or so into the class, and we share books or use copies in the library to get through the problem set or two before everyone has a book.</p>
<p>Nobody buys from the bookstore at my school. Of course, that might be because we don’t have a bookstore. :-)</p>