Save your purchase receipts and add up the total cost of all your textbooks throughout the course of one standard academic year --a spring and fall semester. Include all texts in your addition, including lab books. Count summer session textbooks only if your tuition does not rise due to summer enrollment.
Divide the total cost of your tuition by the total cost of your textbook purchases to calculate how much you spend on books alone. Divide $3000 (hypothetical cost of books), for example, by $23,500 (hypothetical price of tuition, including the cost of books) to equal 13 percent (hypothetical portion of your annual education cost spent on books).
Shop for used books and borrow old books from former students and friends to reduce the total cost of book purchases. Buy updated versions of books only when necessary and avoid purchasing a text if the teacher determines it will not be used often in class. Recalculate the total cost of book purchases by the annual rate of tuition to see how much you can save.