$130 for 1 stupid textbook vent!

[eliza61]

It's been a long time since I graduated from college and in the back of my mind I know textbooks were just as expensive but I just spent $400 bucks for 3 lousy textbooks for my son, who is a freshman.

Jeez, what a racket....

Thanks for letting me vent...

 

[Boo'sMom]

Check out chegg.com
I saved about $600 this year by renting my son's textbooks

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yep. My dd's books are 970 this semester. Granted it is 17hrs and 2 classes with labs...... however 970!

We are going to have to start doing something else.

 

[horseshowmom]

There are some options for renting them, but I don't know where to direct you. Maybe somebody else can?

 

[tasha99]

When my books totaled $600 last term, I decided enough was enough. Photocopies and interlibrary loan, baby. I spent about 1/3 of the savings on therapy materials for my clients. My professors say we should be building a professional library, but I'll be able to buy all those books for $10 each when new editions come out.

Maybe people will have better luck with renting, but when I looked, rentals were a much worse deal than buying used and selling on amazon or ebay. Kind of like leasing a car on a small scale. Still quite a bit of money, but no way to recoup any of it.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Tell me about it!!!!

What makes it worse for me is my school does mostly special editions of a textbook specific to my school so I can't find them on any textbook resale site!

I spent $133 on a book 1/2 inch thick conveniently, they get new editions all the time and there are hardly any used books left at the bookstore.

Nothing is worse though when I spend $100 on a textbook and a teacher almost never uses it i.e. my $133 Bio 112 book!

Bio lecture: $133
Bio lab: $2 packet
Writing: $79 book & $94 book
Math: $179

Considering my books only totaled $487, perhaps I got off easy as this is for 13 credits.

I know A&P classes won't be the same though

 

[Abbie]

There are some options for renting them, but I don't know where to direct you. Maybe somebody else can?

Like another poster mentioned, www.chegg.com

DD has used them for the last two years and it's such a breeze. They mail you the books, you toss them back in the box at the end of the semester and drop off at a UPS store. I can't begin to calculate how much she has saved!

 

[dis-happy]

I feel your pain, my dd is a bio major and her books are routinely $130. each.

We use Chegg whenever we can.

The books I have to buy I get through Amazon usually, since they tend to have much better discounts. Then I resell them on Amazon as used (my dd takes great care of them so they are practically new condition). I just resold two books from last semester and one sold for nearly the price I paid.

As soon as my dd's class list is finalized for the semester I make her email her profs and ask what the book list will be. That gives us time to shop around online and through Chegg well before classes start.

 

[amez]

*sigh* my step-son failed all of his classes last semester-so since he is retaking all of his classes we don't have to buy text books this semester. Of course there is the whole annoying semester of tuition that was paid. . .

Amy

 

[LoraJ]

I am going to be taking Spanish 101 this semester (online class) and the program they use is an e-book and learning system. It costs around $130 - $170. Yipes! Thankfully my only other text I was able to buy used on amazon for $16.

I was lookign at what I have to look forward to with classes I have to take in the future and one class requires 5 books totalling almost $400. Eeep!

My company reimburses me, but I still have to front the money.

 

[Darsa]

I almost fell out of my chair when my husband told me that just two of the books he needs for this semester (out of the five total) were going to run about $500!!! I totally feel your pain.

Luckily he was able to find the books from half.com and ebay, and was able to get them a LOOOTTT cheaper. Whew!

 

[natenapril]

And what stinks is they change the edition so often that when you go to the school buy back they give you $10 or nothing. Such a joke. I just spent $100 on 1 English book And $100 to get 4 very small history books (paperback). Not sure what I am going to do when I go to school full time

 

[SAHDad]

I'm not looking forward to paying for those again. I do recall that, one semester, when I had a couple English courses, the books which cost $5 (new) at the Barnes & Noble (classics like Frankenstein, some C. S. Lewis stuff, The Hobbit, etc) could be purchased on campus for the low, low price of $12. Each.

My school did have a chem prof who was notorious for issuing a new edition of his chem textbook every year and a half or so. At $130 a pop (and I am sure it is higher today), you could buy 2-3 of them, depending on how much chem you had, and where in the cycle you started. All he did was change a few problems at the end of every chapter, too.

 

[wvjules]

One of my books was $187; the other $88.

I didn't know about chegg until AFTER I bought them for this semester. Grrr!

 

[mvazul]

My French book last semester cost $195. Thankfully, I am taking French II this semester. I have the same professor and she is using the same book. It doesn't "sting" as much knowing I am getting two semesters out of it.

The one that really hurt was the LiveText I needed for my education courses. That was $110 for just a code - no book, no CD, nothing. Just a bar code. It's an on-line portfolio for education majors. It's good for five years, but I am changing my major. There is no way to get any of that money back.

Michelle

 

[robinb]

Write down the ISBN and check Amazon for used textbooks. Just make sure to read the description and select one that says it is the correct edition.

 

[everylastbreath]

I'm with ya... My pet peeve is for the price you would think they would at least be hardcover, nope paperback!! Unbelievable.

 

[TEENEE]

Ebay & half.com have worked best for us. The problem that I found with renting was that the books costs just as much to rent as it did to buy them used. At least if we buy the books we have the potential to re-sell them and make some money back.

 

[torinsmom]

One of my books was $187; the other $88.

I didn't know about chegg until AFTER I bought them for this semester. Grrr!

If they were bought within the last few weeks, you should be able to get a refund.

Be sure to email professors and ask if you can use a previous edition. I have done that before. The chapters may be in a different order, but it is usually the same information and the price is a lot cheaper.

I have also been one who copied a whole textbook. Seems extreme, but it saved me $100 that semester. I have also shared a book with a friend and we took turns using it.

Marsha

 

[HsvTeacher]

Another chegg.com user here!

We only paid $36.83 for two textbooks this semester. We saved over $300 by renting them. We received our books two days after we ordered them, and Chegg makes is so easy to return them.