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College student Rob Christensen has tried nearly every trick in the book to save money on the books.
Last year, Christensen said, he borrowed a psychology text from his university library and kept it all semester. It dawned on him that the fines (which turned out to be $8) would be less than the price (around $40).
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I've gotten to the point where I don't buy books until the class actually starts, or at least until I can check with the teacher and verify which book we'll be using and if a previous edition is ok. I've had semesters where my books would have been over $500 had I just went to the bookstore. I've found some real bargains through Alibris, eBay, and other online retailers, and when the library has book sales I pick up anything that looks like it might be relevant for a future course. This past semester all of my books cost under $80.
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I borrowed a book from the library and kept it once. I had ordered it from the campus bookshop, and it had taken all semester and still it hadn't arrived. Two weeks before the end of the semester I borrowed it, and kept it until after the exam in that subject. I think it was only 2 weeks overdue though.
me
-------------------- Check out my handmade pens Check back often because the page changes often Posts: 831 | From: Brisbane, Australia | Registered: Jun 2005
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Appalachian State has one of these, and it works brilliantly; it's covered by part of your student fees ($70 when I was there). You go in with your schedule, they have someone pull the books for you, bring them up, and check them off. At the end of the year, you bring the books back, they check if all the books are there and if their condition is good, and then you're on your merry way. If you want to keep a book, you just go over to the checkout counter and purchase it like you normally would.
You still have to buy things like lab manuals, grad students still have to purchase all of their books, and they don't have it in the summer semesters, but it was great for all those undergrad classes where you had no interest in keeping the book afterward. As a bonus, they put out all the outdated books they can't do anything with, so you might be able to get a book for free anyway if you wait a couple of years.
-------------------- "But about the reindeer...what kind of a nose shines? How did he get it? Maybe it's not a reindeer after all. It could be something else." Posts: 2216 | From: Winston-Salem, NC | Registered: Nov 2003
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Wow, my psychology book was over $100. He's lucky... At the bookstore all the books for my program would have been over $1000. I bought some of them second hand from the bookstore so it was cheaper, about $600.
Posts: 149 | From: Nova Scotia, Canada | Registered: Jan 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Astra: I've gotten to the point where I don't buy books until the class actually starts, or at least until I can check with the teacher and verify which book we'll be using and if a previous edition is ok. I've had semesters where my books would have been over $500 had I just went to the bookstore. I've found some real bargains through Alibris, eBay, and other online retailers, and when the library has book sales I pick up anything that looks like it might be relevant for a future course. This past semester all of my books cost under $80.
Good plan. My statistics text cost $110. There were no used option because the "required" book was the just-released 10th edition. The first day in class, the instructor told us that the 9th edition was almost exactly the same, except for some chapter alignment issues, and we were welcome to use either book. Every time he references the book, he states the section for both editions. I have no idea how much money I could have saved by waiting to get the book until after consulting the instructor.
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Spam & Cookies, that's been my experience. Usually the class website or syllabus will specifically instruct that the latest edition of the textbook is mandatory, but when you talk to the professor you discover that the latest edition is almost exactly like the previous one.
I never buy my textbooks until the first week of class. For the past two semesters I've had classes where there was a shortage of books from the publisher, so after 2 or 3 weeks the professor decided not to use the text after all. People who'd bought the book were stuck with it but people like me hadn't purchased anything and weren't affected.
-------------------- "There is no constitutional right to sleep with endangered reptiles." -- Carl Hiaasen Won't somebody please think of the adults! Posts: 8254 | From: Florida | Registered: Oct 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Radical Dory: Two words: Textbook rental.
The community college my sister goes to does this. In theory, it sounds great, but the way they do it at her school is stupid. Only certain books are available for rental. The rental fees are almost the same price as what it would cost to buy the book, because most of them are apparently older books that are used for several years in a row.
The school also issues the books the same way they do to students buying them - you hand them a course schedule, they hand you the top book off the stack. You end up paying the same for a book whose spine is torn almost in half as one that is used but with no creases or highlighting, and you never know what you are going to get. I've never seen a college do that before, but that place does seem to resemble kindergarten more than college in some ways.
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What really got me was during my last couple of semesters in college (I graduated last December) the bookstore started putting out pamphlets on the "evils" and "dangers" of buying textbooks online.
Uh-huh.
I price-shopped a lot. Sometimes, my bookstore was the best bang for your buck, sometimes it wasn't. It was really helpful when the bookstore went online, so I could do all my price-shopping in one place.
For those who are in school or know someone in school, the single most useful tool I ever encountered was http://www.bigwords.com/ which basically does all the price-shopping for you. IIRC, it even includes information about bundling orders for free shipping and stuff.
As for textbook rental, it certainly wasn't offered at any of my schools. Or if it was, they didn't make it known.
-------------------- If you are allergic to a thing, it is best not to put that thing in your mouth, particularly if the thing is cats. - Lemony Snicket
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I hardly ever bought textbooks when I was a student. Even when I was studying law (where up-to-date texts are important), I used the libary and renewed my loans regularly (instead of paying fines - which would have certainly been heftier than $8 a term!).
-------------------- I want you to lay down your life, Perkins. We need a futile gesture at this stage. It will raise the whole tone of the war. Posts: 4495 | From: Surrey, UK | Registered: Jun 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Embra: I hardly ever bought textbooks when I was a student. Even when I was studying law (where up-to-date texts are important), I used the libary and renewed my loans regularly (instead of paying fines - which would have certainly been heftier than $8 a term!).
In every library system I've ever used, there are situations where a library loan cannot be renewed. My current library will not renew a loan if another patron has a hold on an item, or if the patron requesting the renewal owes fines of more than $5.00.
-------------------- How homophobic do you have to be to have penguin gaydar? - Lewis Black Posts: 8322 | From: Columbus, OH | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Pondicherry Pi: It was really helpful when the bookstore went online, so I could do all my price-shopping in one place.
One of the things that made me the maddest about my school bookstore was that the website used to look up and order textbooks from would bring up all the books required for your classes... but would NOT show a picture of the cover, the ISBN number, the edition number, the publisher, or the first name of the author. They made it as hard as they could for students to comparison shop. If I had to, I'd just march into the store and write the ISBN numbers off of the book price tags. Got me a few dirty looks, but there was no way in heck I was going to pay three or four times more than if I went comparison shopping.
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Bill
The Red and the Green Stamps
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quote:Originally posted by snopes: Last year, Christensen said, he borrowed a psychology text from his university library and kept it all semester. It dawned on him that the fines (which turned out to be $8) would be less than the price (around $40).
Doesn't seem like the ethical thing to do. Someone else might need that book.
I think the rule at my master's degree institution was that required books are placed placed "on reserve" so that they can't be "taken out," just to discourage someone from trying something like that.
And on waiting until class starts to buy the books (to find out if an older edition will do, etc.) doesn't always work because of student fears of not getting the book(s) and falling behind early, and because there may be preassignments" due before the first class. Yes, I had them.
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