textbooks?

[kyrax12]

How much did you guys spend on textbooks in college?

I am freaking out right now since I have to spend upwards to 300$ for about five classes in community college. D:

 

[masterxfob]

lulz, that's pocket change.

 

[Leros]

That's about right.

 

[Glitchny]

seems pretty normal to me

 

[HamburgerBoy]

If you got them from the bookstore, that's on the cheap side of things. If you got them used, or older revisions officially not supported but still 99% identical, that's maybe only marginally above average.

 

[stephenw22]

Borrow copies from the library on campus, take them to the nearest photocopier, and make copies of whatever parts you'll actually use.

I took engineering in school. Probably close to 90% of the things I learned hadn't changed in the last 50 years, and in lots of cases, the 50 year old textbooks taught it better, because they couldn't rely on a fancy multimedia CD or color photos to distract you.

I feel no remorse screwing over the textbook companies when they force students to buy the "new edition" of the textbook. Adding some new illustrations or photos to last year's edition, renumbering/re-wording the review questions, and changing the cover doesn't make it a new edition.

I don't know about the U.S., but in Canada you can photocopy certain percentages of books without even breaking copyright laws.

 

[Spikesoldier]

just wait until you are in year 3 and 4. then your textbooks will go up by 2x, and tuition 4x.

 

[BoomerD]

Sheesh...for me, it was about $500/semester for community college textbooks.

 

[wiredspider]

Sounds about right, maybe even on the low side of things. I usually spent $500-$600 in undergrad a semester.

 

[rudder]

And a new revision has to come out every 12 months.. making the used book market worthless.

 

[Texashiker]

I usually spent about $75 - $100 for each book.

And a new revision has to come out every 12 months.. making the used book market worthless.

I held onto all of my text books just because of the rip-off trade in prices. The literature books I still read from time to time. But all of the other books are just sitting there.

I thought about building a "Box o' Truth" out of my old windows NT4 books.

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Get the international editions on ebay. They are softcover and usually around 40% of the price of the hardcover version. Only spring for the hardcover if you think you will actually use the book as a reference in the future.

 

[metalfacepc]

Check out www.bookboon.com, they let users download college textbooks online for free! I am not sure how large their selection is, as I've never used it, but I read about the site in the Metro (free daily newspaper in Boston)

 

[shortylickens]

How did you get such a good deal?
I'm in community college and pay closer to 200 apiece.

 

[shortylickens]

Check out www.bookboon.com, they let users download college textbooks online for free! I am not sure how large their selection is, as I've never used it, but I read about the site in the Metro (free daily newspaper in Boston)

Obviously you havent.
Its just generic books on generic subjects. Not the actual books you need for any given college. So its pretty much useless as I cant imagine too many people reading textbooks for fun.

 

[LookBehindYou]

I've been using chegg to rent them. The three classes i have now cost me $140 to rent for the semester (would've been a 110 if i hadnt waited til the last minute).

 

[metalfacepc]

Obviously you havent.
Its just generic books on generic subjects. Not the actual books you need for any given college. So its pretty much useless as I cant imagine too many people reading textbooks for fun.

Good to know. I was just trying to offer help, like I said I just read about it in a newspaper.

 

[96Firebird]

Girlfriend spent a little under $400, all used from Amazon.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Close to 1k per semester.

If I was to do it over again, I would not buy any books until the class starts and asks to open it. Half the books they told us to buy were never used.

 

[theshad]

I stopped buying most books after my first year, the only time I buy them now is if they specifically assign material out of it.

 

[Schfifty Five]

$300 for 5 classes is really a good deal to be honest.

When I was in my undergrad, it would be at least $100+ per class with most being $150+.

Years later when I started my masters, I found the wonderful world of craigslist, ebay, and amazon.com. Sometimes amazon's new price was a much better deal than bookstores, and the used books from them were even cheaper.

Also, sometimes you can buy the international edition which is usually a paperback. Those are considerably cheaper but the only risk you run is that sometimes the problems at the end of each chapter don't match up exactly to the regular edition.

 

[waffleironhead]

If you are buying the books new, look to get about 50% or more back when you sell them at hen end of the semester. I'll usually made a lot more back selling on amazon than the bookstore offered. Another thing to check is the previous edition of the book. For some of the gen eds, the books a very similar and and are only missing a small amount of new content.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Don't worry the bookstore will give you 10$ for each book if you keep them in pristine condition.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I wish my textbooks were that cheap.

 

[aleckz]

It always varied for me, some semesters I would spend close to $400, other semesters I would only spend $150. Once you get in the groove of things and you have friends that are on the same track as you (especially in a University) you can often buy books from them or borrow them for free. I borrowed books (all mathematics books) from my friends for my last semester and I didn't pay a dime. It was pretty sweet.

But like the others said, check eBay, Amazon, and see if you can rent from Chegg. If you do buy your books new, make sure not to sell them back to the University or college. Just go to the next semester of the class that's offered and sell your book at 15-25% below cost and you'll probably sell it before the class starts, while if you tried to sell it back to the school, you'd be lucky to get 35-50% back.