Every school year it comes time to face the dreaded bookstore. With fingers crossed and nerves on edge we walk down the aisles to accept our fate.

There, on the shelves in front of us, are books worth upwards of $150. Pieces of paper bound together costing more than a car payment.

We are forced to buy the newest addition of our books leaving us with no used cheaper copies.

I can’t help but think to myself, why am I spending $140 on 200 pages of paper that I might not use for my class? It is outrageous that I am forced to pay these prices.

Students pay astronomical prices for books we will never need once the semester is over and there is no need for these books to cost that much.

Sites such as Chegg, Amazon and textbookrentals.com have allowed us students the opportunity to purchase books elsewhere. We are no longer forced to shop at the bookstore.

Chegg is an online company that not only helps students find affordable textbooks, but allows them to sell back their books once they are done.

Through both Amazon and Amazon Prime, students can buy, rent and even sell textbooks for a more acceptable price.

On textbookrentals.com they have a portion of their site devoted to cheap eBooks, giving students yet another resource to find lower prices on textbooks.

I have personally used these sites in my college career and now look to them for my textbooks. The bookstore is not the only option students have.

When the semester comes to a close and we are left wondering what to do with our unwanted and overpriced books, Chegg, Amazon and textbookrentals.com are other alternatives than selling to the bookstore.

With all these options available, we as students now need to train our brains to not accept the sticker shock we experience in the bookstore. There are other places and resources out there for us.