Textbooks suck!

[CJR]

So it's going to cost exactly $462.45 for my textbooks this semester. Needless to say, I am not pleased at all.

I do have the option of not purchasing books for three of my classes, for the following reasons:
1) There are copies of the history texts and psychology texts in the library "on reserve" (meaning that they can be checked out for 3 hours at a time)
and
2) For my math text, I need to buy an online access code, as most of the homework and assignments are online. I have the option of buying the code+text for $127, or just buying the code for $75... The code also gives me access to an online version of the text.

If I don't buy the history and psych texts, and only get the math access code, I will say $203.

My question here is thus - do you personally a savings of $203 is worth the extra "work" of having to check the books out of the library for only 3 hours at a time and having an online text?

By the way - I commute. What do you think?

 

[AZChins]

I'd just buy them and try to forget how much money I have spent.

I remember the pain...buying textbooks was financially debilitating some semesters for me. Getting your education is worth the cost.

If you're commuting, it would be awful to check out the books for a few hours at a time. That is just craziness! Even if you lived right there on campus, that would be difficult.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I rarely, if ever, buy my textbooks. I'm also incredibly lazy and I can pull a B in most classes without a text book by going to class every day and taking notes. I got a B+ in a class where the teacher gave a speech at the beginning about how it would be impossible for anybody to pass his course without purchasing all three of his required texts. I bought none...it was a book of notes, a textbook, and a punnet square work book. Altogether it would have cost me $220 for one class.

The only books I've been known to buy are science books, because I love science, and books that I have to have homework problems out of. I personally HATE spending such a large amount of money on a book I will be using for 10 weeks before having to purchase new ones. What's more is that they sell them to you for close to $100 each and buy them back for about $5-$10 each.

 

[leni]

My first semester of nursing school, my books were almost $800. Some we barely used, some we used the next 3 semesters I had left. When it came time to sell them back, I think I didn't even make $100 back. New editions come out, blah blah, they make a killing out of the textbooks. We didn't have the option to check ours out and stuff did pretty much come out of the books on the tests so we had to get them. It was painful, but worth it to get your education in the end, IMO. I think commuting and having to check them out would be too much of a hassle. Better to have them and study whenever you want.

 

[Melissa]

I wish mine were so cheap! And mine my professors made me take off the plastic the first day of class and then we NEVER USED IT! I was PISSED. So have you tried amazon or Half.com. You can get them for a lot cheaper. I refuse to sell my books back to the school. I paid over $400 for a stupid book I never opened and the school wanted to buy it back for $7 only to have it posted next year for $375-used. SO needless to say I kept the book and sold it online for $200. You can buy cheap online and sell for more.

This semester I actually wouldve spent over $600 in books if I bought through the school. But i looked them up and bought online and I found some books as low at $15-20 so you know where I bought mine.

 

[Stackie]

I never buy from the college bookstores. You can get used textbooks extremely cheap off of the internet. I buy most of mine off of Amazon. Just get the ISBN numbers that you need and look them up online. I had to get a book that was $200 at my school's bookstore and I ended up finding it online for $40 with 4.99 shipping from Amazon, in almost perfect condition. :thumbsup: Overall I saved about $250 this semester on books by buying online.

My freshman year I didn't know you could buy books online and spent almost $700 at the college bookstore. Never making that mistake again!!

 

[greychins]

I wish I could get books for $400ish. My one semester of law school was $1500 for books - and those were bought used, and NOT at the college bookstore.

Personally, I think it would be a pain to check out the books all the time, especially if you needed several of them several days a week. But then, I'm lazy. I wouldn't want to go to the library over and over and over to check them out. Especially since you commute. If you happened to realize that you need to do something extra for one of those classes... .then you have to drive to the library... versus having the book, which you could just open and do it at home.

Since it's a math book, it might not be that bad to just have the book online... but right now I'm taking an online course (for an MBA) and we had to pay $80 for the online text (couldn't get out of that)... I went and bought the hardcover book as well, because I just can't stare at a screen for as long as it would take to read some of the stuff and do the assignments.

I personally would just buy the books. The savings wouldn't be worth it to me to always have to go to the library.

 

[Riven]

Try going for nursing, that much in books will only cover one of my classes! One semester my books alone were over $1100, I think they were pushing 1300... My microbiology books were $320-ish, my A n P books were $480... Check out half.com great deals on new and used text books. I think having the book in hand is important because you can study whenever, where ever you have it with you.

Oh, also look into text book rentals. Around here you can rent your text books, supposedly much cheaper, but I can't verify that.

 

[Melissa]

Nicole, you are right it is possible to rent textbooks. My college allows you to rent them from them but I bought for cheaper online. There are however some companies that rent out textbooks. They send you the book with the packaging and pre-paid slip to send it back. You have a certain date to send it back and if you dont you get charged full price for the book. Its very convient for a student. As long as they stay on top of the return by date.

 

[fanofdmb84]

I spent $500+ a semester on books at the school bookstore my first year in college. And then I got smart (and cheap). I started buying them online, used. Or else hit up some upperclassmen, I bought and sold several books to other people at the school. Much cheaper. And if you find an older revision, get it. Usually the changes in the latest copy are so minuscule its not worth paying for the new version. There were a few that I couldn't get online and still had to buy, but usually those were cheaper anyway. The one that really urked me was an out-of-print calculus book. The first day of class the teacher told us we'd never use the book, and the bookstore wouldn't buy it back because it was out of print even before we bought them...but they had no problem charging us $300 for the darn things. :realmad:

 

[Siylvat]

My advice is that if it is something you are interested in having for the long run...buy a copy. If the math book is something you are going to need every day and it will be a huge pain in the backside to take it out from the library...buy it.

That being said. Buy smart. Look online. try half.com and see if they have it, or amazaon always works.

 

[itsangelaaa]

It's not worth it to buy books from the school bookstore. You can always find cheaper copies online. One site I find super useful is ninjabooks.com .. you choose your school and the class, and it has your books that you'll need already listed for you. It then compares the prices of those books from 3 sites: amazon, half.com by ebay, and chegg, and it also shows how much it really is being sold for in the school bookstore. Saves me a tonnnn of money, you should check it out!

 

[alli713]

I always bought mine online and found them way cheaper, you just need to compare prices. Also, ask your professors if the previous edition will work as many times those are wayyy cheaper and many times are hardly different.

If it were me, and I've been out of college for a little over 2 years, I would get the books, but that's just how I learn. I learn by reading (albeit skimming sometimes) and I do mark in my books occasionally.

 

[caiti]

I feel your pain. Have you started classes yet? I am waiting until my classes start this semester to determine if I need to buy the textbooks. And even after I hear teachers says I really need the book. It's an experiment, might go horrible or save me buttloads of money, who knows.

There have been so many books I've bought and never opened or opened once and didn't even bother selling them back. Some I've sold on ebay, but I think ebay has raised its fees for selling stuff. And I almost never buy from the college store, unless it's something small and inexpensive that I don't want to look for elsewhere. A lot of times I just used them to study before tests as an added help. Maybe if you know someone in the class or if you join a study group you can study together from the same book, I did that when I had the book and a couple of my friends didn't. Saved them money.

I would go with just buying the math code. Math books on the same subject don't really differ that much. It's not like science books that come out with a new edition every semester making the previous semester's book obsolete.

My school started the book rentals this year also, but I haven't looked into how much cheaper it is yet.

Sometimes if you talk to your professors, they can help. I talked to mine once and he gave me a different animal science text book that he had many copies of and said all the info we needed to know was also in that one. It was awesome and free!!!

 

[GorillaJTA]

Buy them online where possible, and for some books you can check and the old editions are practically the same as the new. My professors knew the book store was a rip off and most did not even require books the first week while people got them off amazon.

 

[Brittany_Lynn]

I would get enough extra financial aid to pay for my books so that it didn't come out of my pocket, so I would always go with the most expensive, newest, etc, so that at the end of the semester I could sell them back and make a profit. :innocent:

 

[eroomlorac]

My son bought almost all his college textbooks at Half. com And he sold almost all of them there, too.

 

[Silverrose]

You can also try looking into the previous edition of the book. Usually publishing companies republish the same textbook every year or so, and not much has changed (maybe a word here and there or adding a page or two or even just a new cover design), but the previous edition is usually much cheaper, especially using online dealers like half.com and amazon like everyone has mentioned. Also, if you have friends taking the same class, you could all chip in for 1 textbook and rotate. You can just make copies of the really super important stuff and figures if you need to.

 

[Melissa]

Also check to see if your professor will give you the ISBN of their teachers Edition. I had one professor do that for me and my $200 book cost me $30. AND it had all the key points from his lectures so I was the smarty who knew what he was GOING to talk about in class and already knew all the answers..

Totally made my hot professor fall in love with me. <3

 

[monarch]

CHEGG.COM

I don't know if its too late for everyone, or if this will even be noticed, but you can rent all your textbooks from chegg, and return it at the end of the semester! they ship it to you! It's FRACTIONS of the cost!!