As the new school year starts, students at NIU and universities across the country are bracing themselves to buy wildly overpriced textbooks.

Check out our list of places to find the best deals.

Village Commons Bookstore

901 Lucinda Ave.

Hours:

• Tuesday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

• Friday: 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.

• Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Village Commons Bookstore, commonly known as the VCB, sells and rents books for basically every class. In addition, the VCB sells custom NIU and Greek-life apparel, and any school supply you can think of. You can pre-order books and wait for the staff to notify you they’re available for pickup or walk in and choose your books yourself. The VCB accepts financial aid as a payment method with a valid OneCard, as well as cash, check and credit card. Listed above are the special store hours for book rush. Standard semester hours can be found on the VCB website.

NIU Bookstore

Bottom floor of Holmes Student Center

Hours:

• Tuesday to Thursday: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

• Friday: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• Saturday: 12 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The NIU bookstore is another one-stop shop for all text books at NIU, as well as art supplies, posters, notebooks, planners and NIU apparel. Listed above are the special store hours for book rush. You can find standard semester hours on the NIU Bookstore’s website.

Amazon.com

Open 24 hours

Amazon offers a large selection of textbooks that can be shipped to your front door. Students can also get a six-month free trial of Amazon Prime, which offers free two-day shipping on some items. Unfortunately, they won’t accept your financial aid as payment, and don’t offer book rentals or any buyback options.

Chegg.com

Open 24 hours

Chegg is a textbook rental site that mails you textbooks and has you mail them back at the end of each semester. It provides an option for students who prefer not to buy and try to sell back textbooks. Unfortunately, they don’t always have the right editions of all books and can’t accept financial aid.