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When I was a student at California State University Long Beach, my strategy for buying textbooks each semester was simple: Wait two weeks.

The reason for my strategy was two-fold. One: Avoid incredibly long lines at the bookstore. Two: Avoid buying books that professors will eventually tell you were unnecessary in the first place.

Now, I wouldn't recommend this for everyone. Some classes have very limited selections of books that could sell out quickly, while other professors assign mandatory work immediately and waiting to buy your books is not an option. As a Print Journalism major with a sprinkling of English Lit classes, these rarely applied to me. Even books for my minor (Sociology) or required General Education classes like Physical Science were available by the thousand, so no rush. But the point is that I didn't want to suffer through impossibly long lines, and I didn't want to spend money where I didn't need to.

Students today have more options than I, a slacker, did. With school at CSULB starting back up this week, the University Bookstore is offering a variety of options for students to purchase, rent or download their books at reduced prices. Since students probably procrastinate just as much as I did, and I know they have less money because you're paying more in tuition than I did, these are a few of the more frugal options to buying that $250 math book that you'll use for one semester.

If you're a CSULB student who owns an iPad, first of all, can I borrow it? Second of all, you're in luck because the University Bookstore also offers a selection of digital books that can be downloaded or viewed on the web. The program is called JumpBooks and makes books easily available online, so you can view them as a downloaded file or print them out yourself as a more affordable alternative (since you own an iPad you'll probably need to save whatever money you have left). Some books are only available for a certain amount of time (180 days, for example) but wider selections are coming in future semesters as the program grows. Check out jumpbooks.com.

New for this year, CSULB is joining a program called the Digital Marketplace that provides inexpensive or even free books for selected classes. Faculty can select course materials that avoid using major publishers, and are therefore cheaper for students. Only four classes utilize the system this semester - helping about 800 students - but the program may expand in the future. Visit dmproject.com to see if you're included.

Any CSULB student is familiar with MyCSULB, the online service that helps connect you with grades, materials and courses. A new program called Textbook Express now helps students who visit MyCSULB and can then view and access their necessary textbooks with prices and other important information instead of having to find the book in the store. Students can use the feature to look up the books they need to get a better idea of what they need to buy at the bookstore, or even to recognize their books at an off-campus site (Aida's, anyone?).

One of the options sure to be very popular with students is a rental program called Chegg. The program offers more than 2,500 titles for CSULB courses and comes with a 30-day guarantee. You can place an order inside the University Bookstore or at ShopTheBeach.com/go/chegg. This is another program that has already proven popular and will likely grow in future semesters.

Now go forth, young scholars. One day we'll need you to fix our budget problems, please.


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