Where to get college books for free

How do you afford the books you need on your college budget? Free textbooks, that's how! More Resources: The best budgeting apps for college students. We found three websites that offer free textbooks online to college students, and we had to share. That cash is precious, and you need it to last you all semester long. More and more websites are popping up that offer free or discounted textbooks to college students. Here are a few reputable sites that can help curb some of the last-minute fees associated with purchasing books for your classes.

Students studying STEM subjects or business may find this site particularly helpful, as the site was initially designed with these subjects in mind and they can be found on the very first page.

With compatibility for laptops, tablets, and cellphones, students can pick up where they left off with bookmark tools and a memo pad for taking notes. With a variety of subjects such as Math, Physics, Biology, Social Sciences, Humanities, Business and more, OpenStax boasts one of the most comprehensive collections available online most of which is completely free. The site is used by almost 4, schools across the U.

As the demand for more subjects increases, OpenStax continues to diversify their library. They will soon be expanding into computer and data sciences, nursing and liberal arts textbooks.

Mobilism Cons. You have to make an account to use the search function. Project Gutenberg Pros. Easy to download and search. Humanities students will love the variety of novels and research books available in this subject. Project Gutenberg Cons. While there are reference books in many areas, the catalog is more limited in subjects such as science and mathematics. VK Pros. You don't need to make a VK account to download any of the books Students share books they have used themselves.

You will find many common titles and also more unusual ones. There is not a centralized search engine on the website. You have to find the communities and their catalog and look from there. Another option is to search on Google the title you want and add VK, so you get an exact result. The option of downloading in many different formats is refreshing.

You will start to wish all websites on this list had the same feature. Uncommon textbooks can be found here. We cannot tell for sure how big the catalog is since this website works as an archive and not a specialized site. Bookboon Pros. The range of textbooks related to engineering goes from the most basic to the most specific ones. No topic is left uncovered. It is easy to use, and the search experience is clean and straightforward. Bookboon Cons. Still, the free catalog is decent enough, and you can access it by making an account.

Free college textbooks: a few things to consider. Textbooks are necessary for completing your coursework. That is a fact. However, you can look for alternatives to spend little to no money on them by joining online sharing communities or archives.

Genesis Library is a powerful ebook catalog. Websites like Gutenberg Project , Bookboon , and VK communities are perfect to look for specialized books on humanities, engineering, or medical topics. You can also post what you have to give back to the community.

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Be respectful, keep it civil and stay on topic. We delete comments that violate our policy , which we encourage you to read. Discussion threads can be closed at any time at our discretion. Alina Bradford. Used textbooks can be even better than new. Here are 11 ways to get free or discounted textbooks: The first place to look for free text books is your university's library.

Most libraries carry textbooks or they can get you the textbook you're looking for from another library through the interlibrary system. The trick is you need to get to your school's library as soon as possible before other students scoop up all the free books. Project Gutenberg has over 43, free ebooks. You may be able to find most of your required reading list here.