CREDIT: LAUREN DIETRICH
Student debt is getting increasingly higher and the amount of money that we fork out for some textbooks is not helping the cause.

The tuition deadline is fast approaching and with that students may feel some financial weight lifted off of their shoulders. However, do not get too excited yet as textbooks are just around the corner to hit you while you are down.

Even though there are hacks to getting cheaper textbooks or reducing the number that you actually need, there really is no winning in the textbook world.

If you buy new then you are forking out a bunch of money on a couple hundred pages, but at least you will likely be able to sell it the following year.

If you buy used, chances are there will be a newer edition the following year and you will not be able to sell it.

I would still recommend buying used textbooks because they are generally less than half the price of new and often times, even new books will change the following year so you will not be able to resell.

For those eager beavers who went to the campus store before their first week and bought their textbooks, you will actually end up further behind.

You may think you have been ahead of the ball by looking up your required books, but sometimes professors do not end up using them.

Similarly, if you have already gone out and bought a bunch of used textbooks you will be in for a rude awakening.

Oftentimes, there will be a required access code associated with the textbook that you will not be able to get when buying used. Although you can purchase the access code separately it may end up costing the same as buying the package new.

In addition, the editions for textbooks change every couple of years and you may find yourself with an outdated textbook and a professor that is not willing to accommodate.

Even though most of the time the new edition is the same textbook with a different cover and a couple of pages that mess up the page numbers, some professors will still require the new edition, especially if they are going to be used in exams. Professors that give you the page numbers in the new and older editions and/or post the information you would get from your access code onto Fanshawe Online are a gift, but they are also few and far between.

My advice is to wait until you have gone to the first class in all of your courses and the professor will generally tell you if you need the textbook and what it will be used for. They were students in the past and understand that textbooks can be a large cost on a small budget, so there is hope that they are looking to save you some cash.

However, some professors will not be very lenient and will tell you the textbook is required to pass the class only to go on to never reference the book in class.

College is definitely a financial commitment and hopefully it will pay off in the long run.

For now, just accept that you will be racking up some debt and celebrate when you hear the words, “there is no textbook for this class”
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.