Book Fees

[dbattman 0]

I quit buying them- I never read them anyways. If I needed to look something up I'd grab one of my study partners. They never complained since I was getting them through the engineering courses.

There isn't much of a difference between the editions either unless you're getting graded on homework. Or, five of you buy a book, scan it, and print copies.

Not that I would ever do anything like that.

[legalart 0]

For a real wake-up call go to law school. The prices you've listed were typical for law school text books 15 years ago. Today, I can only imagine what they cost. Then again, what is the cost these days, financially, of not having the damn BA every employer seems to require?

[Jayruss 0]

Here is what I did in college . . .

You can order them on Amazon.com and keep them for 3 months. At the end of the three months you return them (curtsy of Amazon.com) and order the same book again. The 6 months gets you through the semester and you get free books.

__________________________________________________
"Beware how you take away hope from another human being."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

[adventurechick 0]

www.half.com is definitely the way to go! Way cheaper books... also check out if any of your classes will let you buy the e-book for it where you can view the book online and print it off.

Also try to hook up with classmates who already took the class who are selling their books.

PMS #449 TPM #80 Muff Brother #3860
SCR #14705 Dirty Sanchez #233

[AggieDave 6]

I would work my ass off all summer to save money for books and living expenses. I went to school on student loans. Some of the left over money from the loans would be used for books, but that typically didn't cover all the costs.

Its like that everywhere. I would buy used, sell them back and try to move on, just like every other college student. Buying and selling online is a way to save some money and get more money back for your books after the semester.

Sell your books back FAST at the end of the semester, before the publishers have a chacne to release a new addtion by the fall semester. That way you get your old edition that had a couple of spelling errors sold. If the bookstore won't buy it back, sell it online or via the school's paper, even though its an edition old, people will still buy it since most edition changes aren't major at all.

Eitherway every single person who has ever gone to college has experienced this, it sucks, but its the way it is.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[Michele 1]

Jayruss, I am not disciplined enough to remember to return them after three months... So that won't work for me. I'd forget, and end up buying them. Might as well buy them to begin with, you know?

Dave, it is the way of college students. I know this, but it still doesn't make shelling out nearly $800 for books - let alone any other attendant costs - easier to swallow.

I am going to sell back my math and poli sci books, and see if that doesn't cover the first set of books - the chemistry ones - that I need for intersession. Hopefully it will, but if it doesn't, well, then I dip into the electric bill money. Sigh. But hey, it'll be fine in the end. I will have gotten an education, be doing something I want to do and can see myself doing for the next 25 years, and that's the big picture. I have to see the big picture. I really have to just remember the big picture...

I'm still wondering if I really need those english books...I'm taking the class on-line, so it's not like she'll see if I have them or not, you know? That would make a big difference in costs right there.....

So I'm off to my Poli Sci final tonight, and then my written anatomy on Thursday morning. I don't figure I'll get too much sleep between now and then, so wish me luck.

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[willard 0]

I buy used when possible. At Ohio State there is a web site run by students where used books can be bought, sold, or traded for less than bookstore prices. There may be something similar at your school.
Borrowing from a library is also a viable means, as is borrowing from friends. Sharing of some notebooks is possible. Lab notebooks usually have 3-4 times as many pages as needed. Share the cost of these with a classmate and devide it up.
Two situations I have got caught in, had no way of avoiding, and HATED when it happened was buying a book that will be replaced after that quarter/semester. The bookstores won't buy 'em back and won't inform you of the situation when you purchase. The other is poor quality. $160 for a calculus text just to have the bindings fall apart after a month. Everyone had the same problem yet neither the bookstore nor the publisher would replace them.
I know it sucks big time, but high book prices and being nickel & dimed to death with fees is a part of student life. Adapt, improvise, and overcome!