There are many places that you will be able to purchase textbooks for your classes. The Dashew Center doesn’t recommend any particular place to buy them but we wanted to give you some resources you can look around and see which place has the best deal for you!
UCLA Bookstore
The UCLA Bookstore is a great place to first look for your textbooks. They should have all textbooks that you need because they receive the orders directly from the UCLA professors. The bookstore has textbooks that you can buy new or used, you can rent them or you can purchase e-books if you prefer. Go to the UCLA Store website to see the different types of books and the many ways that you can save money through the UCLA Store.
Also, keep in mind that the UCLA Store offers what is called “Buyback” where they will buy your books back from you at the end of the quarter. Sometimes you can get a good deal, other times you won’t get much money back, but it’s always good to at least take your books in and see how much they’ll give you – if it isn’t much then you can just keep them or try to sell them online!
Library and Interlibrary Loan
An alternative option to purchasing books is to rent them from the library! Since textbooks can be very expensive more and more students are starting to turn to this approach. You can look up your books in the UCLA Library .
Undergraduate Students
Undergrads can check out books for 2-4 weeks (depending on the library) but you also have the option to renew the book multiple times and potentially keep the book for the entire quarter. However, all books are subject to recalls – meaning that you have to return the book earlier than the original due date because someone else has requested to check out the book – so taking the approach can be risky if you have to return the book when you really need it but it’s up to you if it’s worth the risk!
Graduate Students
Grad students can check out books for usually an entire academic quarter and you have the option of renewing the book if you need it longer. However, all books are subject to recalls – meaning that you have to return the book earlier than the original due date because someone else has requested to check out the book – so taking the approach can be risky if you have to return the book when you really need it but it’s up to you if it’s worth the risk!