A New Semester...

[roguerower]

Any other college students not looking forward to plunking down the cash for textbooks? I'm trying to get most of mine off amazon and go w/ older editions. Any other tricks out there or places to buy them from?

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: roguerower
Any other college students not looking forward to plunking down the cash for textbooks? I'm trying to get most of mine off amazon and go w/ older editions. Any other tricks out there or places to buy them from?

oh man. thats the one thing i don't miss about college. paying $500 for books that are slightly changed from last year. then not being able to resale them back because next semester is diffrent.

 

[Anubis]

the trick is not buying them

90% of the books are useless, use the Library, or the locak public lib,

after my freshman year i only bought hard txt books like Calc and Quantum Mech, things like that,

half.com and Amazon.com are your best bets for cheap new and used if you want to actually get them

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: Anubis
the trick is not buying them

90% of the books are useless, use the Library, or the locak public lib,

after my freshman year i only bought hard txt books like Calc and Quantum Mech, things like that,

half.com and Amazon.com are your best bets for cheap new and used if you want to actually get them

yep. Love both places.

 

[yankeesfan]

http://www.addall.com/

 

[roguerower]

Last semester I borrowed all my books so i was golden but my classes are all in major and pretty small so not many people out there w/ the books i need.

managed to just pick up an older edition for 8 bucks and saved about 120

 

[steppinthrax]

I beat the whole book buying system. I got all my books from the library every year after my sophmore year. It's free!!!!!!! We have this program called Illiad (inter library loan) there are participating libraries around the United States. You put in a request and the sender library mails the book. It's free!!!! Since I'm a student and they never worked out late fees so I've kepts books a month past the due date and return them afterwards.

I can also go into my local library and they do a library search which searches the whole University of Maryland library system which are all libraries part of the USMAI system (every library attached to a university). They will ship the book to any library.

I also will go after the older version of a book so if the professor request the 2nd edition (newist) I also ask if teh 1st will work. 9 times out of 10 I find the 1st edition is no different from the 2nd. Or the professor used the 1st edition though his whole lectures and is only using the old parts of the 2nd edition. In other words the 2nd edition only has additional parts. I've gotten by with this a lot and it's significantly cheaper to get the older eidtion.

I also purchase my textbooks though sites like half.com and bigwords.com.

On the other hand you may not even need the book. I've taken some basic word/office application classes that are needed for gen ed and they reqired a book and I saw the teacher was real cool and I never bought the book. Did well so what?

 

[BoomerD]

Walked out of the campus bookstore 2 weeks ago with the textbooks for four classes...$568. what a fucking racket. Then, one of my professors tells us to write in the books, tear out the pages, or vust do what we want, because this is the last semester they will use this book and it won't be bought back at the end of the semester...Apparently, not just a newer version, but a totally different textbook.

I'll occasionally try to buy books from other students when I can, even though I really don't need to. My voc-rehab program covers all my book and supplies costs, but it's kind of like recycling to me...I save a bit of $$$, the other person gets a bit more than the school would pay...win-win for both. The only down side for me, is that it takes 6-8 weeks to get a refund on the stuff I buy out of pocket.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Unfortunately I am in a very small department and we use rather obscure textbooks. Half of the textbooks I need this semester are not even listed on Half.com. Most of the rest are cheaper at the bookstore. *sigh* there goes another $300.

 

[purbeast0]

after my first semester in college, i probably bought like 4 text books total throughout my other 9 semesters.

 

[TecHNooB]

glad I'm not at school this semester

 

[amdskip]

$150 for 2 books this semester, not too bad but not cheap.

 

[destrekor]

Originally posted by: BoomerD
Walked out of the campus bookstore 2 weeks ago with the textbooks for four classes...$568. what a fucking racket. Then, one of my professors tells us to write in the books, tear out the pages, or vust do what we want, because this is the last semester they will use this book and it won't be bought back at the end of the semester...Apparently, not just a newer version, but a totally different textbook.

I'll occasionally try to buy books from other students when I can, even though I really don't need to. My voc-rehab program covers all my book and supplies costs, but it's kind of like recycling to me...I save a bit of $$$, the other person gets a bit more than the school would pay...win-win for both. The only down side for me, is that it takes 6-8 weeks to get a refund on the stuff I buy out of pocket.

i'm in the same boat as getting things covered. Get book money from Army every quarter, it's a bonus posted to my checking account right before school starts typically. I've spent anywhere from just around $300 for the quarter, to this quarter which only cost me $55. This quarter was real nice, because I only had 1 class to buy for, and those 3 books on half.com were cheap. The book for the army classes is given to us to use each year, my russian course uses the same materials bought for class 1, and those materials cover 3 quarters worth I believe (1 regular school year is 3 quarters, fourth quarter consists of summer classes, so I may be set for 103 as well as the 102 I'm in now). My astronomy course is the second in a series, and but they are using a new astronomy book altogether, however I may be able to get by on the old book, as even though it's organized a little differently - so i gotta search the table of contents a little, not a big deal - it still contains pretty much the exact same information. Astronomy hasn't changed much in the past 3 years, at least nothing taught in more of a 'concepts' style. Sociology of terrorism is the only thing I had to get books for. Woot.

 

[PrinceofWands]

I love books, and frequently revisit them for specific points or as references or just for fun. Because of that I've never sold a book...in fact I still have every school text from middle school on. Since I usually have 20-35 books per semester in college, I now have quite a collection.

I also buy a copy of any book I use as a source for any paper I write...unless it's out of print and VERY expensive. And I mean VERY...I've dropped $250 for a hard to find and not blinked. Since most of my classes are research oriented this has added up as well.

If I had to guess I'd say I'm sitting at about 500 school books so far.

 

[duragezic]

Yeah at least at my school as a Computer Engineering major, it is so easy to "beat" buying the books thing that I can't believe the number of people who still spend $500-600 per semester. They don't even think about anything just blindly go to the book store and walk out saying they got owned. Well no crap. Everyone knows you rarely get much money back, and although it is nice to keep some books as a reference, it really isn't needed if you have good web resources and more importantly your school library will have tons of books... usually have textbooks that are a few editions older. So although say maybe my Circuit Analysis book would be good to keep as a reference, why do it when there is a dozen circuit analysis books at the library?

addall.com if you have to buy them. Look for local sales from students, borrow, or just find out if you even need the damn thing (usually they are useless)

 

[Leros]

I have no problem buying engineering or programming books as they apply to my major and I'll keep them for a long time. I typically buy them new. But when I have to take something like english or history, I get the cheapest one I can find because after the semester I have no use for it.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
I love books, and frequently revisit them for specific points or as references or just for fun. Because of that I've never sold a book...in fact I still have every school text from middle school on. Since I usually have 20-35 books per semester in college, I now have quite a collection.

I also buy a copy of any book I use as a source for any paper I write...unless it's out of print and VERY expensive. And I mean VERY...I've dropped $250 for a hard to find and not blinked. Since most of my classes are research oriented this has added up as well.

If I had to guess I'd say I'm sitting at about 500 school books so far.

your middle school and high school let you keep their books?

 

[Leros]

I know some high schools make you buy your own textbooks if you take advanced classes. Maybe his middle school was the same way.

 

[PrinceofWands]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: PrinceofWands
I love books, and frequently revisit them for specific points or as references or just for fun. Because of that I've never sold a book...in fact I still have every school text from middle school on. Since I usually have 20-35 books per semester in college, I now have quite a collection.

I also buy a copy of any book I use as a source for any paper I write...unless it's out of print and VERY expensive. And I mean VERY...I've dropped $250 for a hard to find and not blinked. Since most of my classes are research oriented this has added up as well.

If I had to guess I'd say I'm sitting at about 500 school books so far.

your middle school and high school let you keep their books?

Not exactly. They weren't actually the ones I was assigned, so I guess technically I don't really have 'my' texts.

 

[Pathogen03]

I buy books for my major or technical classes, as I figure i will keep them.



The rest is wikipedia/google/bullshitting. If we need to write a paper on it ill hit a library or sit at barnes and noble and write it.

 

[Analog]

I feel your pain.

As a professor, I am very sensitive to this, because I know what the publishers are up to. I have used the same textbook in by Microprocessors class for 9 years. It has been revised 4 times in that period. Students have to buy the newest version, because some formatting, page numbers, etc are changed. Funny thing - all the mistakes are still there in the text. Every time a new rev. comes out, I check for the mistakes -and they're still there! The publishers want new versions to sell more books, rather than allow students to buy used (this is called profit).

For two of the classes I teach this semester, I have no book. I use my own material and pdf files. The students in those classes are very happy with this arrangement. Although once in a while I get a complaint that I don't use a formal book. So I have mentioned an optional book for those that need a security blanket.