College Is Expensive, Books Don't Have To Be

College is expensive, and I think that is one thing we can all agree on. Whether you put yourself through college, your parents pay, or you take out loans, tuition is painful to anyone writing the check. You know what else can be expensive? Textbooks. I spent almost $500 my first semester on textbooks, and I wish I could go back in time and kick the 18 year old version of myself for paying so much. Why? Because I didn't have to. At Texas A&M, most students start out buying books from the bookstore and then wise up to the situation around their sophomore year. The secret? RENT! CampusBookRentals.com would have saved me a few hundred dollars that first year, and here's why I'd like to go back in time and knock some sense into baby Chelsea:

Why should you rent textbooks?

• you save 40-90% off of bookstore prices
• free shipping BOTH ways
• you can highlight in the textbooks...I was a major highlighter
• flexible renting periods to accommodate your semester
• CampusBookRentals.com donates to Operation Smile with each textbook rented

You know those professors who require a certain edition of a certain book, and purchasing the previous edition is forbidden? Don't worry, CampusBookRentals.com has the largest selection in the nation with 21 day risk free returns. Seriously, I so wish I would have known about this from the get-go.

Guess what other new and glorious concept has graced the world of college since I graduated? Rentback. Rentback is a new initiative that allows students to rent the textbooks they own to other students, which is awesome considering it will make them up to 4x more than they would with normal buyback options. So if you're like me and spent $1,000,000 on buying books your freshman year, Rentback just became your new best friend.

College is expensive, but books don't have to be. I wish I could go back in time and redo my freshman year. I could think of a few ways to use the extra $500 I spent now that I'm living in this beautiful thing called the real world. And just for fun, here are a few throwbacks from my graduation from Texas A&M almost 3 years ago. I'd like to go back now please.

Disclosure: I was compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.