Be Book Smart
Textbooks are one of the largest expenses for students after tuition, rent and food. We've got resources, tips & tricks for what to do at the beginning of a class, how to get the books you need, and how to save money on them, too.
And don't forget to use the new Zero Textbook Cost course indicator on BearTracks, which saves students $8–$15 million every year!
Students: Save Your Money
There are three main ways that we recommend you use to save money on your course materials as a student:
Search online
Search the net for free options. Open Access materials, books in the public domain, and other online resources are widely available at no cost. Try the Gutenberg project, or your favourite search engine. The internet public library is no longer being updated but may still be useful.
Talk to your professors about their course materials
Instructors are the primary decision-makers when it comes to your textbooks. Ask them how often you’ll use the textbook throughout the course or your degree. Ask them if they have ever thought of using alternative materials such as customized course packs, reading lists, or Open Educational Resources (OERs). The U of A Library explains: "OERs are free educational materials that include textbooks, curricula, syllabi, lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and animation. These materials are free of most legal restrictions and can be re-used without fear of copyright infringement." The Library offers instructors a wide range of support for finding and creating Open Educational Resources!
Find out if the course textbooks are mandatory
Some courses will have optional textbooks. It’s worth asking your instructor or your peers if the book is mandatory before you buy it. Check in with your friends who have taken the course and see how much they used the textbook — in that class and afterwards.
Borrow from the library
The University of Alberta Library has many of the required course textbooks available for short term loan, or online. Check their online resources, and if they don't have a copy you can always submit a request to add the textbook to their collection. It may be worth searching up individual chapters for some textbooks as often chapters can be published as papers by themselves!
Another option is to try the Edmonton Public Library. Through the L-Pass program, all U of A students are able to access the EPL catalogue (including Libby, a mobile-friendly digital library materials provider) and inter-library loan.
Share with a friend
Why not buy your book and share it with a friend in the same section? It cuts your costs in half, and gives you someone to study with. If you both need the book at the same time, you can make photocopies of the sections you need.
Ask about older editions
There may not be a substantial difference between previous editions and the one you’re supposed to buy. Ask your instructor if you can use an old edition and if they can provide you with page numbers or required content from the newer edition.
Publishers have a financial incentive to constantly produce new editions, as it helps limit used textbook sales, but constantly revised textbooks may not be necessary for all your classes. And as more and more textbook publishing shifts to digital, older hard-copy editions might be an especially useful choice.
Buy used
Buying and selling used books is a great way to keep costs low and give money back to other students. You can try local used book stores, the U of A Bookstore, and secondhand marketplaces like Facebook and Kijiji.
Check prices if you're required to purchase access codes separately, though, as sometimes publishers bundle them with new textbooks to reduce the value of used books.
Buy from a classmate
It’s likely that a U of A student has already taken your class and is selling the book that you need at a low price. Check the campus bulletin boards, the UASU Used Book Registry, U of A used book buy-and-sell Facebook pages, or Faculty Association used book sales. Or put a call out on social media to see if anyone has an old copy they don’t want any more.
Try an eBook
Save on paper! Check Campus eBookstore, Amazon, Google Books, Google Play, VitalSource, or Kobo for eBooks. Be careful, though: eBooks may not always be cheaper, and some rentals may expire before your course is over.
Shop around
The Bookstore at the U of A isn’t the only place you can buy your textbooks. Check out the websites and prices of a few competitors first. Online retailers like Amazon, AbeBooks and eBay often have lower prices. You can also try Indigo, or even a bookstore at another university in the city.
Some textbooks can even be purchased directly from the publisher, so check their websites, too. It may also be worthwhile to email the author if you can find their contact information! Oftentimes authors would love to share their work if you ask.
The University of Alberta recommends that students should budget $1200 per year for academic materials.
That's almost as much as a month of rent or a few months' worth of groceries.
Students can start dialogues with their instructors about the cost of academic materials: let them know how it impacts you and what you prefer.
We fully support our instructors’ right to choose their teaching materials.
With students and instructors working together we can do more to ensure that academic materials remain both high-quality and affordable teaching tools!
Instructors: Help Your Students
The UASU has prepared a list of recommended actions that instructors can take to support students' studies without making them break the bank.
Be Book Smart FAQ
While authors receive a portion of the revenue from textbooks, publishers have predatory practices that force high costs on students. Constantly changing editions limits the sale of used books, and bundling textbooks with supplemental online material like access codes reduces the overall value of the books. Publishers will also lobby instructors by providing them with free copies or assignments and online activities which save them time.
As a student, check out these tips to save yourself money. As an instructor, take the time to work with the Bookstore to find low-cost quality options for your students. If you're interested in advancing the dialogue locally and internationally on textbook costs, email vp.academic@uasu.ca.
Instructors can choose to use library materials, Open Educational Resources and other open access works, coursepacks, e-books, or eClass resources. Many instructors list their courses as Zero Textbook Cost on BearTracks, contributing to a culture shift that saves students millions every year.
Textbook Affordability Advocacy
The UASU has consistently advocated for lower margins and a more efficient Bookstore, since any additional costs are passed on to students.
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1995
Survey data showed that over 90% of students were dissatisfied with the cost of textbooks. In following years, the UASU lobbied for greater oversight over the campus Bookstore, and created customized coursepacks.
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2000
Provost Doug Owram created the Bookstore Advisory Group, which became defunct in the late 2000s, but was restarted in 2011.
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2008
In 2008 and 2009 the UASU was active in national roundtables on academic materials, including the NART and CRAM conferences.
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2018
The UASU ran the first Be Book Smart campaign, highlighting strategies for students to save money on textbooks, and developed partnerships with the U of A Library and the Registrar's Office.
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2021
The UASU played a major role in implementing the Zero Textbook Cost indicator on Bear Tracks. This indicator helps students make informed choices about their courses based on the potential savings on course materials. ZTC courses began to save students $8–$15 million every year.
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2023
The UASU prevented the University from introducing the Academic Materials Program (AMP), an automatic textbook billing model, leading the University to rethink how to address textbook affordability. The UASU also created the ZTCup, an award program recognizing faculties' efforts to make courses more affordable for students.
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2025
The UASU continued fighting for students' needs and top concerns as the University prepared a new version of their automatic textbook billing program. This included planning for a plebiscite to capture students’ perspectives during the Winter 2026 General Election of the UASU.
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2026
The UASU outlined a new vision for the Zero Textbook Cost program and the future of Open Education at the University of Alberta, laying out recommendations to University leadership about investments, stronger support systems, presentation and branding, and faculty/department access to ZTC data — all working towards the 35% ZTC adoption goal in the Student Experience Action Plan.