<p>Should we be purchasing books ahead of time or wait until school starts. I want to try to get used ones, rentals, or on-line if possible. I am afraid it will cost more if we wait cause we will have to get them new, but don’t want to buy what we might not need. ANy advise!</p>
<p>It really depends on the classes your child will be taking and how much the books will cost. There have been cases when I bought a book that didn’t end up being required, but when I was buying books at half the price the Supestore was charging, I was fine with it. While a book may not be required, there might be times when you will be glad you did buy the book.</p>
<p>Amazon is offering a free year of Prime to college students. Prime offers free two day shipping with one day shipping for an extra fee (only for orders fulfilled by Amazon). if your son needs a book on short notice, that could be helpful. Remember that you will pay sales tax (9%) when buying books from the Supestore or the off-campus bookstores.</p>
<p>We just finished buying books today; a combination of books from the Supestore & others from outside vendors. I knew D would need the math & foreign language books; Supestore was the only place to get the math texts as they are a UA special edition; for the language books I saved a bundle buying them used through the bn.com used book vendors. The IHP & UH classes that D is taking had very reasonable textbook costs (less than $30 for one class.) The Anthropology class book was $12 less on bn.com with free shipping so I just got it there.</p>
<p>Word to the wise: a lot of the books via the used book stores are “examination” copies which get sent to professors to preview to see if they’d like to use them for their class i.e. they get them for free. Other copies are international editions which are not supposed to be used in the US or Canada. I was hesitant to spend the $70-$90 for a book that was labeled examination or international when I could get the new text for $108. It wasn’t enough of a difference to me to deal with the potential problems if it wasn’t “right.” YMMV.</p>
<p>RobD, international editions are perfectly legal (as per the US Supreme Court) despite what might be printed on the book. One book I have even says that the publisher might sue me for lost profits, which is BS. The only thing I don’t like about international editions and examination copies is that they cannot be as easily resold or resold at as high a price when compared to the US editions.</p>
<p>[Quality</a> King v. L’anza - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_King_v._L’anza]Quality">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_King_v._L’anza)</p>
<p>^^^Thank you very much for the link.</p>
<p>If you have an extra scholarship, like the $1000 national merit stipend, how do you apply that toward your books. Do I just buy the books now and they refund me later, or do I have to do something special?</p>
<p>That extra $1000 tends to get credited towards your meal plan, so not really used for books.</p>
<p>Aleut: My son is National Merit. Do not to count on that money – immediately. You won’t see it until October, so it will do you no good the first semester for your book payment.</p>
<p>Hmm, I have another outside scholarship that should cover food. How about the engineering scholarship, does anyone know if it is distributed immediately? Do you think I should just look for my books on cheap sites rather than get them from the university store?</p>
<p>My son checked the price of books at the SupeStore, including the used ones. Then, we went online. I saved $70 on one book when we ordered from Amazon. So you might want to shop around to see if you can do better. I do know, with the engineering scholarship, it is split in half for each semester.</p>
<p>*Hmm, I have another outside scholarship that should cover food. *</p>
<p>What difference does it make which scholarship pays for food or books???</p>
<p>Your outside scholarship, your eng’g scholarship, and that $1k scholarship will get applied towards your bill. Whatever is left will get returned to you - but not in time to buy your books.</p>
<p>You either need to buy your books yourself as cheaply as you can find them and/or borrow from your parents and reimburse them when you get your check.</p>
<p>What is your outside scholarship? Is it a corporate NMF? If so, that won’t likely show up until after school starts. And, if your outside scholarship is a corporate NMF scholarship, then you don’t also get the $1k.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if the $1k gets split for each semester? My son doesn’t get that $1k because he gets the corporate NMF money.</p>
<p>And, yes, the engineering scholarship is split for each semester. </p>
<p>So, you need to find out when your outside scholarships will show up in your account and then find out from Bama how soon you can get a refund check for the “over-payment”. </p>
<p>How much are your outside scholarships? Are they for more than one year?</p>
<p>Engineering: $2500
NMF: $1000</p>
<p>M2CK: The National Merit stipend is split over the two semesters. You receive $500 in October and the second $500 in late January/early February. Also, if a student earned the Robert C Byrd scholarship ($1500 a year), it is split over the two semesters. Expect it to arrive in one’s account in late September – too late for book/fee purposes for the fall.</p>
<p>Malanai: Go to the SupStore’s website. Look under textbooks for the fall semester. Then, scroll down through each department, check the section of the class and the professor (if listed). You should get a pretty good idea what books will be needed.</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Take special note that some books are sold as “sets” and some are sold individually. Some are sold “hard bound” and some are not. </p>
<p>Look closely because it can be confusing as to what all needs to be ordered. I accidentally ordered singles and sets for my son’s first semester because each listing said “req’d”. The SUPE store credited my account for the extras - they caught my mistake and called my home.</p>
<p>When in doubt, email the prof or call the SUPE store.</p>
<p>When you show up at the SUPE store, they will give you all your books in a bag…keep receipts, don’t open anything that is shrink-wrapped until you’re sure that the things are needed. Things can be returned with the receipt for the first week or so.</p>
<p>When can we pick up the books from the Supestore? </p>
<p>We will drop son off for Alabama Action. Can he pick them up that week, or will they not be ready until the following week?</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, first day of class is on a Wednesday, so can the books be picked up on Monday of Welcome Week?</p>
<p>If you order books from the Supestore, then go to class and the prof says you don’t need the book, do you have to return it immediately?</p>
<p>Also, I’ve heard mention of selling books back to the Supestore if you purchased them there. Am I correct on that?</p>
<p>For instance, if son buys all his books from the Supestore, even used ones, can he sell them back to the Supestore, at a reduced price, I’m sure, at the end of the semester?</p>
<p>Thanks for the info on the scholarships. Son also has outside scholarships. So we’ll just pay upfront and get a refund for the scholarship amounts when they go through?</p>
<p>Son has NMF and Engineering, but he also has a corporate NMF and the Byrd scholarship. I do realize he will not get the 1K NMF from Bama, but he should still get tuition to 16 hours and housing, right?</p>
<p>Sorry for the many questions and long post. Trying to catch up here.</p>
<p>For my scholarships, in total, I have the university national merit scholarship, a $1500 corporate sponsored national merit scholarship, a $2500 engineering scholarship, a $5000 scholarship from the Eyak Foundation, and a $6000 scholarship from the Chugach Heritage Foundation, and they are all renewable. I was just looking for the best way to maximize my scholarships, but if I get a refund everything should be fine. Thanks for all your help.</p>
<p>^^^Wow, sounds like you have enough $$ to set up a rather tidy investment portfolio, Aleut. Sea_Tide’s a business major with an interest in finance. Perhaps he can help you manage it and grow some wealth. :)</p>
<p>I would go to the SupStore during the Week of Welcome to make sure all the books you ordered are ready. That way, they have enough time to make sure everything is together.</p>
<p>As for returning a book, yes, you can immediately return something a professor decides not to use. Keep your receipts.</p>
<p>Just because you buy from the SupStore, that does not mean it will take every book back at the conclusion of a semester. My son was told that his econ book would not be taken in as used.</p>
<p>^^^Aleut, I should have added congratulations on a phenomenal achievement. It’s great to know my son will be studying alongside spectacular students such as you.</p>