Ack!! I just spent $500 on books for this semester... ask me anything

[belladonna]

:cry:

[bicentennial_baby]

1. That's about what I'm spending...

For a whopping total of 5 books x(

[belladonna]

3. Yep, 5 books here too

And some weird little package for my Organizational Behavior business class.. I haven't looked to see what it is yet, the book was intimidating enough for me. Looks like I'll be busy writing lots and lots of reports this semester :eyes:

[bicentennial_baby]

5. What's your major/program?

I've been wondering for a while now :)

Me, I have 4 Econ classes... x(

[belladonna]

9. For the moment, its Medical Administrative Support Specialization

Doing that just so that I can make the big money doing what I do now, the medical transcription gig. Once I do that, I'll be able to major in English and finally get my degree in THAT.

[bicentennial_baby]

11. Rock on

Good luck, with everything :hi:

[belladonna]

13. Same to you!

Four Econ classes... makes me feel like a wimp in comparison!

[bicentennial_baby]

14. Nah, I think you've got the fuller plate!

I'm not pregnant (yet), not working full-time, don't have a family to manage. You've got a lot more going on than I do! :)

[belladonna]

15. Well yeah, but all that laundry

I did catch that the other day... gawd, I'm glad my daughter does her own laundry and my SO seems to like doing laundry every weekend. I HATE laundry.

Here's hoping you can change that first one soon... we'll all be waiting for THAT announcement :D

[bicentennial_baby]

16. Awwww, thanks. I hope so too!

:pals:

And yeah, the laundry is a nightmare! :o

:)

[LeftyMom]

2. Mine set me back $400, and I'm not quite full-time this term.

:(

[belladonna]

4. I'm taking 5 classes

Total of 16 credits this semester :scared:

Of course, I signed up for my classes before I found out I was pregnant... now I'm just wondering if I'll be able to handle that and work too. Bleh.....

[Pendrench]

6. And then you'll probably be "lucky" enough to sell them back for 1/10 of what you paid. n/t

[LeftyMom]

8. Assuming they'll take them at all

:(

I have a $50 CONSUMABLE text for my anthro lab. An inch of hole-punched black and white handouts and two color pages for the front and back covers. $50. Really.

[Pendrench]

12. Very true...I work at a university, and I see this a lot.

By the way, I don't know if its still done here (or anywhere else) but I remember when I was a student they used to "give us" a candy bar once we finished reselling our books...I guess that was supposed to take the sting out of the fact that we were screwed out of several hundred dollars.

Tim

[belladonna]

10. Exactly

The real kicker was that there were NO used books for any of the classes I needed. I got a pretty big break on books last semester, buying some of them used. No such luck this time :(

[baldguy]

7. I had an anthro class where I had to buy 8 books.

The total was $240.00 - and two of them were written by the instructor.

[Rhythm]

20. 'written by the instructor' is generally a good thing...

Most universities don't let the prof profit from sales to uni students where they teach, so that avoids any conflict of interest. However, having the prof who 'wrote the book' often means having someone who knows the subject backwards, rather than some grad student who needs the teaching experience for their advanced degree.

[NJCher]

17. Tips for Students from a Professor

First, don't buy from the bookstore. Buy online.

Second, don't assume you have to have the latest version. In other words, go online and buy the 4th edition instead of the 5th edition; the 10th edition instead of the 9th edition, etc. In most fields (some technology ones excluded), the updates are marginal. I've found, for example, that a 4th edition might sell for $8.50 when the 5th edition is selling for $85.

You can find out from the publishing company what the changes in the text are. You can find this out at the publisher's Web site or you can call the publisher and ask. You would laugh (well, you guys prob'ly wouldn't) if you saw what the changes are. Most of the time they don't amount to a hill of beans and they certainly aren't worth the difference in the price, which can be as much as 40-60.

Tell your instructor what you're doing and why. Depending on how knowledgeable the instructor is about this type of thing, he/she will probably be understanding, especially if you cite the poverty status of students as the reason.

Make a photocopy of the first chapter from a colleague's copy so you don't get behind on the reading while you're waiting for the book to show up from your online source. Tell your instructor that's what you're doing.

When you go online, put the title of the book and the author right in the Google search box. It will turn up a lot of entries that let you comparison shop the copies.

Check Amazon and eBay, too.

Also, those special cellophane package deals are usually a rip. They have databases that the student is already getting through the library. It's just another huckster deal to scam you out of your money.

Sometimes departments have a custom publishing job and they tell you that you have to buy the special edition of the book. Find out what the difference is in the custom job vs. the regular edition. Usually it's some lame thing like an appendix. Whoopee. You can photocopy that from someone who bought the custom edition.

Also, don't begrudge your professor for using his/her own books. Believe me, profs don't make that much on the publication of a book and you actually are lucky to have someone as a teacher who has also published. He or she is probably one of the experts in the field.

When it comes to re-selling your books, don't take them back to the bookstore. Sell them online. Start listing them a month before the semester starts. There's a bit involved in selling books at a place like Amazon, so get familiar with the process way before you actually have to do it.



Cher

[Indy_Dem_Defender]

18. Buy online and sell online

I will ask you two questions

I've had books that I've been told by the professor that was required but we never ended up using for the course, Has this or do you think this will happen to you? I sure hope not.

Does your courses require you to buy books that are in combo packs, Like a textbooks/workbook were you can't buy them separate, or when a book is made for only the university so the only place to find it is in the school bookstore?

[Rhythm]

19. mine were about $600...

then i dropped one of the classes, which brought it down to $500.

textbook prices are such a racket...

[Nikia]

21. I based some of the choice of my electives based on book cost

I stayed clear of the $100+ textbook classes if I didn't need to take them. Unless there was an assignment right away, I also usually waited to buy books until I found out if I actually needed them. Some of the books were on reserve in the library, not really needed, or already owned by a friend who was willing to lend it to me.
I found out that borrowing it from the college library isn't such a good idea though. The one time I did that, another student in the class has it "recalled" so I had to turn it in early.