<p>maze…,
Almost nobody except for some freshman are buying books at the store. They get them on-line. they are still outrageusly expensive, but considerably less. When D. was a freshman she bought them at the store. No, $900 / year is way too low, hers were well over $1000 / semester, all used. However, there are several ways to get free college education, if this is a goal.</p>
<p>How do you feel about 1.7 oz of face lotion for $80 ? Expensive enough to be outrageous?</p>
<p>Textbooks are expensive, but there are ways to cut costs. I’ve never had a problem emailing the professor a head of time to ask for the name of the text, author, and edition. Express shipping is still cheaper than the campus bookstore. College libraries often have text books. Students can also buy books via facebook/ off of classmates. </p>
<p>Plan B: Major in English where you can get just about everything out of the library.</p>
<p>umcp11, we are from Canada and it makes it very difficult to order books for courses in the US. The same text books are not used in Canada as in the States so they are hard to find here. 90% of Online used book stores either will not ship to Canada and if they do delivery negates any savings you have, ie this summer our D was taking an online course and through the college the text book $98 +$25 delivery, the used ones we could find started at $75 with shipping anywhere from $40 to $60 for 10 day delivery($12 overnight if we lived in the States). For a savings of about $8 it was not worth it. They will not deliver to an address in the US (a friends) because we are from out of country they will only deliver to the card holders registered address. It is vicious circle and I really wish what you said earlier about the school having to give the ISBN at registration would happen because then we would have enough time.</p>
<p>Percussion, can your D get a US based bank account linked to a debit card?</p>
<p>She has a US bank account with Debit card. She cannot get a US credit though. We have not found an online store that will accept only a debit card. All of the ones we have found want either a credit card or paypal. Paypal again requires a credit card for back up and we end up in the circle again. If you do know of one that will securely accept a debit card please let me know</p>
<p>
Get 'em on line like I do - frames from $8.00 (yes, eight).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.zennioptical.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.zennioptical.com</a></p>
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<p>My son is a freshman and we just got his book list and we are looking at online stores. Even then, there is a sticker shock as this is my first child going to college. I was shocked to see some textbooks that cost $175 new for a few months of usage? Even the used books are not that cheap as you point out.</p>
<p>Percussion, unlike your daughter, I am a US Citizen, but I’ve never had a problem ordering textbooks with my debit card. My debit card is tied to my campus address. I’ve successfully ordered books from half.com, amazon, abebooks, textbooksrus, and possibly a few other sites. (I just type my debit card number into the credit card space). If her debit card isn’t going through on those sites, your D needs to call her bank. Perhaps she hasn’t activated her card or she listed her permanent address as her Canadian address, when she needs to use her campus address. I usually have my textbooks sent to my college.</p>
<p>I just paid $256 for a textbook for Physics for Scientists and Engineers. It is supposed to cover both semesters, so really entire year, but still, common !!! It is only ONE subject on top of the tuition.</p>
<p>I agree with anything edible sold at movie theaters. I always send my kids with large shoulder bags that can store plenty. Why do I feel guilty about it?</p>
<p>Oh, I forgot! Cell phones! They are much more expensive here than in Europe!</p>
<p>What are the other text book sites? Appreciate any other sites.</p>
<p>I got the following from post #28. Thanks college_ruled</p>
<p>half.com, amazon, abebooks, textbooksrus</p>
<p>I’ve also ordered from alibris.com and bn.com (barnes and noble); if you are ordering multiple books, you may do better from bn.com, since the shipping is free and the prices are better than the bookstore.</p>
<p>percussion,
my D. is buying still very expensive science textbooks at half.com but usually she just googles the book and find the new or almost new. She is using my credit card. At bookstore they are much more expensive. For some reason, science books are much higher than others. </p>
<p>"I agree with anything edible sold at movie theaters. I always send my kids with large shoulder bags that can store plenty. Why do I feel guilty about it? "</p>
<p>-you should not feel quilty, but very lucky. Very few kids would agree to that.</p>
<p>Along the same line as printer ink cartridges, razor blade refills (already mentioned) and power toothbrush replacement heads.</p>
<p>Re: textbooks from Amazon – students can sign up for a free 1 year Amazon Prime membership, which gives them free 2 day shipping and no minimum purchase. Info is on the Amazon website; students just need an email address with “_____.edu.” (Prime membership is normally $79.00/year.) D signed up and H & I are also getting the benefits by having her order stuff for us.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info everyone I will try harder next time to get online textbooks for my D. </p>
<p>As far ink is concerned I am not 100% sure if they will ship to the US but here is a link to the company I use. I use them for HP, Epson and Brother and have never had a problem with them not working properly. [Blankdvdmedia.com</a> - Ink Cartridges, CD, DVD Media and Accessories](<a href=“http://www.blankdvdmedia.com/]Blankdvdmedia.com”>http://www.blankdvdmedia.com/). The ink for one of my printers at a normal store costs $80 and I get them here for $24 delivered. If I order by 10 in the morning it will be in my mail box the next day, mind you this is within Canada. Might be worth a try for some of you.</p>
<p>We just found out for the first time what custom textbooks are. S has to buy Biology book with ISBN that could not be found on any of the book search website. The original version of the same book can be bought used for $25 but the abridged version that take selected chapters from the book is $98 and a used one cannot be found anywhere. And good luck trying to sell such book after the end of the semester. I don’t know whether there is a kickback that the school gets, but I would not be surprise if they do get one.</p>
<p>[As</a> Textbooks Go ‘Custom,’ Students Pay](<a href=“http://www.berkerynoyes.com/pages/as-textbooks-go-custom-students-pay.aspx]As”>http://www.berkerynoyes.com/pages/as-textbooks-go-custom-students-pay.aspx)</p>
<p>There are several sites that if you enter the ISBN #, it will search for the lowest price forthe book at various sellers. I use bigwords.com, put in the ISBN # and go from there. I look thru the list and find the lowerst price I can for a “like new” book. </p>
<p>Typically I have ended up buying thru half.com or Amazon marketplace. I look for s seller that has a very high rating, and so far I have had zero problems. Son’s classes start Tuesday, and for one engineering class they were very late in posting the textbook needed, so I was just able to buy this week. So I looked for a seller that ships from a state close to him, paid $3 extra for expidited shipping and he got the book in 2 days! On that book the university was selling it new for $167, used for $125, and I got a new book for $99 through Amazon Marketplace. Often I can do better with the price, but this was fairly late, so I think the better bargains were gone.</p>
<p>Printers for college students? They may go the way of the dinosaur!
We sent two off with printers and the next two, no printers! </p>
<p>3rd child prints all over campus at library, etc. for no charge!
4th child is having software installed on laptop at his college library for $30.00. (one time fee) for printing all over campus. No printers, no ink & paper to buy for these two.</p>
<p>PDad- when my DD lived and worked in Canada, she had to get a secured CC to have a Canadian one. Since she was charging in Canada and paying in CD, it made sense not to deal with the exchange rates & foreign transactions fees, etc. Can your DD get a secured card in the US?</p>
<p>somemom we will definetly look into it but what we have seen so far it much more difficult to for Canadian in the States then vise versa as far as credit cards go. I know that her US bank has said no. We have not tried all avenues but will keep looking though. thanks.</p>