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Recently John Hechinger of The Wall Street Journal reported on a growing trend in the Textbook Industry: Custom Textbooks.  For those unaware let me take some time to explain.  A custom textbook is one that is published specifically for one school and one school only.  Often, these custom texts are published annually or even semi-annually every semester, and they are usually required reading.

According to the WSJ, a typical custom book would be used in a Freshman English Course.  Acme University will require all incoming freshman to enroll in this English Course and purchase the Acme Version of ‘A Writer’s Reference’.  The only difference between the standard Writers Reference by Dana Hacker that most schools use and Acme’s is the cost, the Acme name across the front, and an extra 30 pages detailing Acme U’s writing program.  Oh, and it’s nearly impossible to buy a used version because the notice on the back cover reads “This book may not be bought or sold used.”

For those students who are pinching pennies and relying on their end of semester textbook sales to fund their next semester’s textbook purchases this can be a real problem.  Unlike other textbooks that are no longer being used, custom textbooks cannot be sold to other campuses due to their custom nature.  So, what can you do?

First, when you are purchasing your books be aware of custom texts.  They are fairly easy to spot and have a few tell-tale markers.  They will usually be spiral bound to cut costs, and they will almost always have the University’s name, Department, or Professor’s name across the front cover.  Second, talk to your professors.  Find out what you can about the new custom text, i.e. what makes it custom.  Sometimes the only difference is the front and back cover.  Or, if there is additional text included, you might discover that text is downloadable for free through the University’s website.  Knowing this little bit of information might save you some money.  In addition, it is always in your best interest to introduce yourself to your professors.

By: Dan Russell

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As with most things, and certainly all things involving money, scholarships and other financial aid opportunities are sometimes scams designed to part you from your money. It’s an unfortunate, but time proven fact that there is a small percentage of the human population making life worst for the rest of us. They cheat the elderly out of their life savings, they sell broken down cars to newly expecting parents, and they put lead in toys sold to babies just to make a few dollars more. They also prey upon students and their parents who are desperate to find just a few extra dollars in order to go to school to get a better life.

Knowing that there are unscrupulous people and companies in the world fraudulently representing scholarship and Aid opportunities will hopefully make you more careful as you sort through applications. In this case, the mind numbing task of filling out applications is actually working in your favor. With the exception of the essay portion almost every application requests the same information- grades, address, interests, field of study, extracurricular activities, etc. When you come across an application that requests your credit card or banking information it should raise a giant red flag. If it looks a little peculiar, it probably is. Set that application aside and take a few minutes to investigate it. Ask the school guidance counselor about it or better yet, contact the Federal Trade Commission whose job it is to investigate these issues.

Students and parents should also be weary of opportunities that cost money to apply for. Often a student will be invited to an ‘exclusive’ seminar where they will be given a high-pressure sales pitch to pay for an opportunity or risk losing it. Or they will be asked to pay a membership fee to an organization that awards scholarships. Sure, that $25 membership fee is pittance compared to the $2,000 annual scholarship. But, that’s because the scholarship isn’t real. ALWAYS investigate any organization promising you financial aid if there is a fee involved.

The FTC is always on the lookout for scams such as these. With their help and the help of vigilant students and parents across the country fewer and fewer students are getting scammed. If you encounter a scholarship or Aid opportunity that looks too good to be true; or just want ore information on what to look out for please visit the Federal Trade Commission’s site http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/ouchalrt.shtm.

By: Dan Russell

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Thanks to Fastweb.com and similar websites students now have access to a huge number of scholarships.  Billions of dollars in free financial aid is now easily accessible via the internet.  These Free Money sites are similar to job sites in the way they simply list out all those opportunities that fit your parameters. It can be easy to get carried away simply clicking on scholarship opportunities that you then forget what you’ve done.  Let’s face it, after reading through 50 links over the course of an hour, they all start to look the same anyway.  If you go through 50 links everyday for a week there is no chance you’ll remember the first link you looked at after lunch on Tuesday.  Living in the information age is a great boon for students.  But, if you don’t know how to organize all that info you might wind up drowning in it.

With so much information at our fingertips it becomes even more important to keep track of everything.  Trust me, as I have learned the hard way, being organized will pay off in the long run.  There are a number of good reasons to keep track of the Free Money you have applied for.  First off, you don’t want to waste time doubling up your efforts by applying for the same scholarship 3 times.  Many of these applications also need an essay.  If you are organized you will be able to keep track of these essays and you’ll find that certain essays are a fit for a number of Free Money applications.  The students who are winning multiple scholarships typically do so with just one or two very well-written essays.

In order to make things easier on yourself it helps to build a simple spreadsheet when you begin.  On that spreadsheet you’ll want to list out all the info pertinent to each Free Money opportunity.  The Company or Organization, the due date, amount of award, application requirements.  Do that for every single opportunity before you apply for anything.  At the end of a period of time, organizes that spreadsheet.  What you’ll discover is that many of these applications require the exact same information and have similar essay questions.  Taking a day to fill out all the applications rather than doing them one at a time will save you time and energy in the long run.

by: Dan Russell

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Seeking out and applying for scholarships, fellowships, and grants is easier than ever, but that doesn’t mean slackers are rewarded. Just because you have access to so many more opportunities doesn’t mean you should take the application process lightly. I have always felt that people take more care to read and fill something out when they are doing it with pen and paper rather than by mouse and keystroke. I know I do. For some reason my attention span seems to lag when I scroll too long.

If you are like me, than straighten up and refocus. When it comes to filling out information for Free Money (as I will now refer to scholarships, fellowships, and grants) you don’t want to miss anything. For example, the survey form for fastweb.com’s scholarship search will probably take you a good 10 minutes to fill out. There are the typical questions about grades completed and GPA, as well as boxes to check for your extracurricular involvements. But then they proceed to ask questions about organizations, your parent’s jobs, and any number of unfortunate incidents that might have befallen you. In a word, it’s extensive. But that’s a great thing. The more you are able to tell them about yourself the more opportunities you’ll have to apply for Free Money.

Fastweb.com takes all of your answers and sources Free Money opportunities for you. There are far more than you could possibly dream of. There are scholarships for children of specific unions and professions, grants for children who are adopted or victims of domestic violence, and even money for students willing to create blogs for Corporations. The more you can tell Fastweb.com about yourself the more Free Money you will be eligible for. A quick word of advice though not to be dishonest or over embellish. You don’t want to be bogged down with opportunities that you truly aren’t eligible for. You may have written the best essay of all time for that AFL-CIO Scholarship, but if no one in your family is a member of the Union all you did was waste your time.

by: Dan Russell

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There aren’t many times in your life when there are literally billions of dollars waiting for you to freely claim.  Free, as in no cost.  Free money.  What I’m talking about are scholarships, fellowships, and grants.  Millions and billions of dollars in free money simply waiting to be given to students like you.  Best of all its now easier than ever to find and apply for this money.

In the past simply being proactive in looking for scholarships wasn’t always enough.  Your school or community might not have the resources available to do a complete and thorough search.  In the past students would pore over books that listed scholarships, but not every student had access to the most updated versions of those books and many opportunities could be missed.  Thankfully today’s students exist within the information age and there are great resources within everyone’s fingertips.

There are many websites right now that focus on helping students secure scholarships.  One of the better known is www.fastweb.com which claims to be the largest source of scholarships available.  The beauty of fastweb.com they have built a personalized search tool to aid your search.  Actually, the real beauty of the website is that it’s free.  There are plenty of websites with personalized search tools, but they aren’t all free.  And, let’s face it if you are looking for scholarships, fellowships, and grants you probably need every dollar you have.

By: Dan Russell

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Searching out and applying for scholarships can be a crazy stressful time. For many of us the success or failure of our scholarship search will have a profound affect on the next few years of our lives. With such weighty concerns it’s easy to overlook the basics. There are certain things that in hindsight everyone says, “of course you DON’T do that.” But, in the haste and stress of filling out applications they always do. Here is a quick list that I’m search everyone is aware of…an Idiot’s guide to the basics of scholarship search that.

  1. Start early. Since you can’t start yesterday, start now! The earlier you begin your search the more opportunities you will find for financial aid. But wait, there’s more. You’ll also have more time to craft those applications in order to make sure they are perfect, further increasing your chances to win thousands of dollars!
  2. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Use all your resources. Talk to your school guidance counselor as well as teachers you have relationships with. Find out if your job offers any scholarships, same thing for your parent’s job. If you belonged to any organizations growing up look into those opportunities. There are many scholarship opportunities available to members of organizations such as the Boys and Girls Scouts. Of course use the internet. Scour it. Use services like FastWeb.com to help you quickly find opportunities you might e eligible for.
  3. Don’t ignore small awards that fit your profile. They add up and many times you can simply use the same essays for multiple scholarships cutting down on time it takes to apply. Money is money and even if it takes you five hours to fill out an application for a $1,000 scholarship, it’ll be a long time before you are in a position to make $200 an hour again.
  4. Don’t spend money to win money. It’s a scam and a suckers bet. Don’t ever give someone your credit card or banking information when applying for a scholarship. When in doubt, contact the www.ftc.gov.

By: Dan Russell

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As comfortable as most students are with the Internet, the prospect of selling one’s textbooks online is still fear inducing. It shouldn’t be. Certainly it’s a tad more involved than waiting in line at the buyback counter, but it should not induce fear. But this extra effort can be well worth your time.

Step 1- Visit Campusbooks.com and find out how much your book is worth through a direct buyback . Looking up this information is as easy as typing in the ISBN (10 or 13 digit barcode on the book cover) into a box. You might find that the buyback price doesn’t cover the cost of shipping, let alone the hassle of selling it. This is a rare discovery though. More often than not though you will find a better buyback price than you would had you just gone to your school bookstore .

Step 2- Finalize your sale. This is typically taken care of as part of the listing, but occasionally afterwards. Many online merchants have set up wireless accounts for themselves through Paypal or similar services. This is a quick and easy away to get paid. The alternatives include personal check or cashiers check. If you plan on meeting the buyer in person to finalize the sale I recommend getting cash. I would always discourage the acceptance of a personal check.

Step 3-Get rid of your books. Unless you were able to sell your books to a fellow student on campus, or if you live in Boston to someone at a nearby campus, you’ll need to go to the Post Office, UPS, or Fed Ex to ship them off to their new owner. Many online sites will actually allow you to print off a prepaid shipping label when they buy your books back. In those cases all you need to do is find a box and head off to the Post Office. Timeliness is critical here. Ship your books off as soon as possible. Just as you wouldn’t want to wait for your money the buyer doesn’t want to wait for their new books.

by: D. Russell

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As a child I recall my parents and other adults referring to a trip to the Post Office as a nightmare. I recall going there on occasion and being beyond bored as I waited in line for what seemed like hours.  The counters were high, I couldn’t see anything, I had to stand the whole time as my mother or father had packages in their arms.  It was horrible and for many years I had a phobia about going to the Post Office.  I have come to learn that I was not alone. I fear students are out there whose fear of the Post Office prevents them from selling their books online.   Students who would love to make more on their buybacks, but for whom the mere thought of going to the Post Office is paralyzing.
Having overcome my fear I hope to help others overcome theirs.  Hopefully after reading this, your fears will be laid to rest as the Post Office is not a scary place.  Most of the time people are nice and the worst part about the experience is waiting in line. Before heading off though you’ll need to do some preliminary work.  Let’s say you need to ship some books off to Portland.
Step 1, you first need to know when they need to arrive in Portland.  Someone is paying good money for your books and they expect them to arrive by a certain date.  That date might be next month, or next week, but you will need to know it.  Write down the date and the address.
Step 2 is to find a box for the book(s) or if you are mailing a light paperback any large envelope will do.  If you have one lying around that is in good shape put the books in it and seal it.  If you don’t have a box lying around don’t worry about it.  You can get it at the Post Office, but don’t forget the date and shipping address.
Step 3…the Post Office.  Take a deep breath, hold your box or books tight and walk through the door with your head held high.  More than likely you will have to take a number and wait in line.  But, that’s ok because you’ve done that before. While you are waiting there, take advantage of the time and look around.  Familiarize yourself with the surroundings.  If you don’t have a box, take a look at what they have.
Step 4…you are at the front of the line and they just called your number.  Don’t panic. Calmly approach the counter.  Take a deep breath and explain to the clerk that you need to mail this package to this address by this date.  The clerk will then weigh it, and quote you a few price options for delivery.  If the book needs to arrive ASAP you’ll be paying a little bit more for next day air.  If the buyer doesn’t need it right away the slowest, cheapest option, is known as media mail but can take 10 to 14 days to arrive.
All that is left for you to do is pay for your postage and box that you bought to ship the book(s) in.  That’s it.

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In the past, students were beholden to the campus buyback counter as the only outlet for their old books. Now however there are so many options online students no longer have to accept making pennies on the dollar for their used textbooks. Enterprising students are able to profit from their books, sometimes earning wads of cash rather than mere meal money.

Making the most off of your used books is not for the faint of heart, but if you are willing to put in the time and effort into selling your books online, you can reap some nice rewards. To begin with it helps to NOT buy your books on campus in the first place. As soon as you sign up for next semester’s classes get a hold of the required text list.

Time is of the essence; the longer you have the more you can make of it. With list in hand start doing some online shopping. There are many schools that change the textbooks for courses from year to year which eliminate the on-campus demand and value of that text. But, if your school needs that text it has some value to you. The student at the other school might be happy to sell you that $150 book for $15 because it’s $15 more than their bookstore was offering.

Not too long ago it could take forever bouncing from website-to-website trying to source the lowest priced book available. Luckily it’s now 2008 and thanks to CampusBooks.com you only have to visit their website, type in your book’s ISBN number and away you go. CampusBooks.com’s online price tool allows you to view what the top book websites (including auction sites such as eBay.com) are selling your book for. You will also be able to get shipping costs and any of the other fine print that can add to the cost of your purchase.

The next step is eerily similar to the first, just the opposite. Instead of going online to buy your books, you go online to sell them. The exact same principles are at work and the book might be far more valuable on another campus than on your own. If you have time and patience take advantage of it. Typically the prices rise as the semester approaches and people become desperate. On some occasions the demand for a certain text might have skyrocketed for the next semester allowing a student to actually sell the book for more than they paid.

You are probably not going to make hundreds of dollars every single semester. There might be semesters where you only break even. But other years the stars might align and you’ll strike gold with that geology book. Over the course of 4 years that it all adds up and maybe you’ve made $500-$1,000 which isnt too shabby.

By: Dan Russell

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For decades the only place to sell back your used books was the campus bookstore. If you were lucky they would buy your books and if you were luckier you might get more than meal money. The Internet obviously changed all that. Now students have access to thousands of potential buyers; eBay alone has over 25,000 textbooks for sale. Even more traditional online bookstores Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com are buying back textbooks. The marketplace is so large that websites such as CampusBooks.com and Textbooks.com have been created to specialize in that area.

Students are now taking advantage of this opportunity in record numbers. More often selling their books back for more than their campus bookstore was offering. What could be better than that? What could possibly be the drawback you ask? Well for one it’s just not as simple as turning on your computer and selling your books. With so many options it takes time sorting through them all. Luckily CampusBooks.com has an online price comparison tool that allows you to plug in your book’s details and check out the going rate for your book over most of the major websites.

However it’s still going to take some time to list all of your books for sale on those websites. Time is money and you’ll be earning it. It won’t take up hours of your time, but expect to spend more time than you would have waiting in line at the buyback counter. Once yours books are listed for sale online, you’ll need to manage those sales, answer questions from prospective buyers, and if you’re lucky sell those books. Then you need to lug all those books to the post office (hopefully it’s on campus) and mail them off. Make sure you have the correct postage, the correct addresses, and the correct books going to the correct addresses.

Many of these websites will also take a commission out of your sale price reducing the amount you receive. That is when you finally receive your money. After all the work is said and done you’ll still have to wait for your money to arrive. Waiting for a check to arrive isn’t quite the same as the instant gratification you get walking out of the bookstore with a handful of cash. When all is said and done you might have only made a dollar or two more than the bookstore was offering. Cashing a check for $7.50 isn’t necessarily better than walking out of the bookstore with $5 in cash.

Ultimately there are benefits and drawbacks to everything. The students who benefit the most from selling their books are the ones who understand everything involved. Even if you ultimately decide to sell your books on campus you’ll be doing yourself a HUGE disservice by not taking a look at an online price comparison tool such as the one available on CampusBooks.com. It only takes a minute or two and you might be surprised to find out that other students are buying that Bio book for $100, which beats the $25 the bookstore offered your roommate.

By: Dan Russell