College books are expensive, right?

[Syan]

The key i've found is to find the textbooks that are absolutely necessary, like get the ones that the lecturers use word for word in their classes either second hand from older students or from amazon, the secondary reading material and general 'filler' academic things that its nice to have can often mostly be found online in some form or another.

Library's are usually not so good at colleges/university's because the bigger or more important books have very limited loan times.

I think im lucky to do philosophy, alot of the source text translations that are used even now as the best are a hundred or more years old and free to publish digitally, I know you'll probably be able to get alot of your English and math stuff this way, so its worth a look.

Still spending several hundred pounds every semester, specialist books arnt often published as e-books yet, its annoying, as carrying the things to class and subjecting them to the elements on the way is a painful thing.

The absolute worst is when your college lecturer bases the course on THEIR book, so you have to pay stupid amounts to them and their publisher to pass the course, feels like cheating.

Goodluck in Uni/College btw, Its really an awesome time regardless of cost!

 

[brainfreeze215]

when you buy books new, especially for important courses like that, they cost upwards of $200 here in the states. Amazon, used book sellers, and often just managing to get through a course without buying the book (which is not always possible, but more often than you might think) are your best bet. This past semester was one of my worst in a while, because I was in a course that actually required me to buy the book, but I still managed to spend only $80 on books. And since that book will last me through the follow up course next semester, it was technically $40 per course.

Just keep your wits and savvy about you and you'll do fine. But yes, it's true, college textbooks are easily the biggest scam in the world.

 

[sketch_zeppelin]

If you buy from the school then yeah they're expensive. math and science books especially can run over $100 bucks each. try to get your books online. amazon is good or theres a number of sites that specialize in used books. If your worried about not having the book for the first couple of weeks of class then talk to the professors before the class starts up and ask them for a copy of the book list so you can order them in advance.

 

[baseracer]

I love that my college has a rental service, free of charge.

 

[DalekJaas]

yeah absurdly expensive; especially if you are doing a science degree

 

[shticks]

My favorite part is how higher lever courses have MORE expensive books.

 

[fozzy360]

Books are generally expensive, but the ones that cost the most are the science books such as Math and Computer Science. English books are kinda pricey, but much more affordable than the aforementioned. For example, three English books I need for one class (the Norton Anthology of American Literature, if anyone's interested), cost me $50. My pre-Calculus book, on the other hand, cost $200! Fuck that, I rented it for $60 and returned it after the semester was over.

Check if your school has some sort of rental policy and if said policy is affordable. You should also check used book stores (sometimes they're around the campus), and look online like Amazon, or some such websites. There's a ton of different places you can check that can sell used books for dirt cheap.

If you're a particularly cheap bastard (as I can be), borrow the book from someone who has or check out from the school library, photocopy the pages you need, and be on your merry. Some of my professors have actually encouraged this (not out loud, as you can imagine).

 

[Scde2]

I spent like $500 on textbooks for this next semester that hasn't started yet. The books cost more then my tuition for the four classes I'm taking.

 

[Nova5]

Books are costly as hell, but check your local Craigslist. I just bought one of my books (normally $100) for $20 on there. Same for Amazon, check for used copies.

You'd be surprised how much cash you can save. I spend, generally, around $200 a semester on books, with an average of 14 units (four or five classes).

 

[somerandomguy76]

Try to find a P2P book service or adds for books. There should be listings around your campus or online. If not, post a flyer with your email/phone and what book you're looking for. You'll probably get some bites.

Edit: Anybody else hate when the school has their own version of a book that can't be found online or at a used bookstore? Drives me up the wall. You know they're gonna charge an arm, a leg and three kidneys for the thing...

 

[pearcinator]

Books are fucking expensive. Do not buy from the college/uni. Best thing you can do is get second hand copies. I'm a first year, at a uni in Australia, and the average cost per semester for my books are at least 600+ AUS dollars. Four subjects. I dunno if you think that's expensive, but it is to me!

I hear ya, my last textbook cost me $95.50 and that was with membership discount! It was just 1 friggen book!

btw, which uni you at and what course ya doing? Im at Southern Cross, Lismore (NSW) and studying Primary ed.

 

[Herb sewell]

Op's post

Luckily sense you don't seem to have a science lab you'll avoid what amounted to extra 200ish dollars in additional fees and materials. With four classes I'd say your looking at between 300-400 dollars for books and online labs. At absolute worst 450 to 500 if there are a good deal of additional required books for english or psych

 

[Bullfrog1983]

Last year I spent around $700 for second year English... and I even bought some of mine used.

 

[spartan231490]

I would say you're looking at at least $600 for those classes, maybe as much as $1000 if the english class has a lot of required reading.

 

[warprincenataku]

My uni had a book rental program which most campuses have done away with. Try and get the name of the book being used asap and order it online. You can save around 75% by doing this.

 

[Agayek]

Alright, I figured I'd ask you guys about this since many of you seem to be around the college age.

So, I'll be starting college later on this month, and my older sister has made it seem like my books are going to wipe out my entire bank account. Apparently, she's just trying to say "worst case scenario" but I'm still kind of uneasy, which is making me terrified to spend any money. xD

For those of you who have gone to college and all that, how much did your books cost you (total) for your first or per semester?

EDIT: Ok, I'll be taking 4 classes if it helps. I've got English, Math, Psychology, and Spanish.

I'm not sure what the prices would be for you, but for the semesters I actually did buy books, I usually spent $100-$200 USD. It depended on the semester, but the most I ever paid for my books was on my first semester when I was dumb and bought all the textbooks for approximately $450 USD.

I've found, though, that the vast majority of classes you simply don't need the book. It depends on your professor (and your skill set, I'm one of those lucky few that basically don't need to study and can still get As), but at least for me I was able to skip on books for ~75% of my classes.