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Order your textbooks for the 2025 spring semester today!

 

Buying Textbooks

The Colgate Bookstore cares about your semester budget so we offer very competitive pricing. There are three ways to shop: 

  • Order your textbooks on our website by Wednesday, Jan. 15 and have them delivered for free to the common area of your Colgate-owned residence.

  • Order your textbooks on our website and pick them up at the bookstore.

  • Stop by the textbook department at the bookstore and shop for your textbooks.


 

Selecting Your Course Materials

To order your textbooks online, log in to the University's portal.

Once there, click on the "Student Toolbox" tab at the top of the page. Then, you will see a "Student Course Books" box on the right-hand side of the page. In this box, you will see a listing of all the courses in which you are enrolled. Click on the "Choose Books" box. For each book, click the preferred format of your textbooks (new, used, or digital). When all the required items are selected, click "Purchase". Once you have reviewed your selections in the shopping cart, click "Checkout".

 

Check Out

If you already have a bookstore account, please log-in to your account. This ensures your order history will be saved. You can also checkout as a guest. Once you have reviewed our textbook substitution policy, click "Continue to Shipping Info".

 

Parents: If purchasing books for your student, be sure to use the student name as the "Shipping To" name on your order, and use the student's Colgate email to avoid confusion at pick-up time. 

 

Pick-Up Options

There are three available options for textbook pick-up or delivery.

Free Delivery

If you place your textbook order on our website by Jan. 15, we will deliver to the common area of your Colgate-owned residence for free before you arrive. For this option, choose "Textbook Delivery-Colgate Buildings Only" as your shipping method and include your residence building in the comment field.

Pick Up Your Order

You can pick up your textbook order at the Colgate Bookstore by choosing "In-Store Pick-Up". Your books will be boxed and waiting for you in the Bookstore textbook department when you arrive.

Shop

You can also come to the textbook department at the bookstore and shop for your textbooks.

 

We do not ship textbooks to the mailroom.

 

Please allow 24–48 hours after placing order before picking up your orders.

 

Ways to Pay

After you have clicked, "Continue to Payment Info", select your payment method.

You can charge course materials directly to your student account. Click "Student Account", enter your Gate Card ID, then click "Apply to My Order". Please note this is for course materials only.

Once you have selected your payment method, click "Review Your Order". If the information is correct, click "Place My Order'. Be sure to check the email address used at checkout for your order confirmation email. 

The "CU Bookstore Textbook(s)" charge can be viewed in TouchNet. The Office of Student Accounts will communicate any balance owed and payment deadline in a future monthly e-statement notification. Any regular student account payment methods can be used to resolve balances owed.

If you are a financial aid recipient and need assistance purchasing your books, please contact stuaccounts@colgate.edu to discuss options to utilize your financial aid to purchase your textbooks.

 

Rentals

Please note that not all textbooks are eligible to be rented. You may rent eligible textbooks when you place your online order.

 

E-Book Instructions

When an e-book is purchased by online order:

To access your e-book, watch for an email from the Colgate Bookstore. This will come to the email that you used to purchase the book with the subject: Thank you for your digital book purchase.

  • Click the "Redeem Your Books" button in the email to get your code.

  • Copy your VitalSource Redemption code.

  • Follow the link on that screen to bookshelf-activate.vitalsource.com

  • Log in or create a new account.

  • Paste and redeem your code.

When an e-book is purchased at the cash register:

To access your e-book, follow the instructions printed at the bottom of your receipt:

  • Visit the unique URL printed at the bottom of your cash register receipt to get your code.

  • Go to online.vitalsource.com

  • Log in or create a new account.

  • Once logged in, click “redeem an access code”.

  • Enter your redemption access code.

If you have any trouble accessing the e-book, please email tech support at support.vitalsource.com


You have 14 days from purchase date to return an e-book if:

  • You have not viewed or printed in total more than 20% of the textbook.

  • You have not used any included access codes for online resources.

  • You have not returned a total of 3 or more e-books in the past 90 days.

  • You have not previously returned the same e-book from a prior purchase.

 

Textbook Refunds

Textbook refunds begin on Sunday, Jan. 19 and end on Wednesday, Jan. 29. There will be no refunds given after Jan. 29. Returns will only be accepted if you have dropped a course. 

All merchandise must be in original condition. All shrink-wrapped merchandise must be unopened.

Required:

  • Drop/Add verification

  • The original receipt

  • Colgate ID

 

Call or email us with questions:
315-228-7830 / 315-228-7472
textbooks@colgate.edu


 Get Your Books!