Book worm your way to a cheaper education.

THE MAJORITY of university courses require you to buy books for self-studying. Going to well known bookshops can give you a peace of mind when buying books, you know it'll be clean, brand new, etc. But for that, you're probably paying a bit much.

It seems that now, Amazon is the place to buy second hand books, nine times out of ten, they are in pretty good condition and for a fraction of the price. As a student myself, I've bought two books from here, second hand, and I can tell you, they don't look like they've been used at all. 

For example; I bought a 'Teeline Wordlist' also referred to as a shorthand dictionary, for £4. In Waterstones, Ottakers or the university bookshop I would be looking at £18. You don't need to be a rocket scientist to work out the difference.

It also seems that you buy a book, thinking it'll last you for the rest of the academic year, this isn't always the case. You could pay out a hefty sum for a term, once that term's over, lecturers or tutors may require another. An idea, would be to keep your books in the best condition, and flog them when you KNOW you'll actually never need them again.

Sticking old books up on Amazon or eBay would be worthwhile. Of course, if you don't want the hassle, try to mingle with next year's Freshers, they'll probably take you up on the offer.

To enter the Amazon website, click here.

Although these 'buy and sell' websites have become a large part of our lives, not everyone likes to use these sites to buy or sell things, purely because of the lack of trust. You could be buying from 100miles away or another country in fact. 

But when it comes to buying books, there are many resources out there to enable you to grab what you need, and quickly. 

The University Book Search works online and ranges from Business to Computing and other standard degree courses. 

They say that: "As fellow Open University students, we aim to run a friendly, quick and efficient service which helps you buy or sell Open University course material and set books."  It may be that because this resource is run by university students that other undergraduates feel more comfortable in buying from them.  To get onto the website click here. As the same old motto goes: 'It is better to shop around.' In this case its true, don't just go to your nearest bookshop and find it. You're better of comparing prices, and saving yourself a couple of quid.