<p>"College students will be able to shop around more for deals on textbooks, thanks to a new law that took effect this month. The Higher Education Opportunity Act requires colleges to release required book lists at the time of class registration. Publishers must disclose prices and revision info..."</p>
<p>College</a> students may get break on textbook expenses - USATODAY.com</p>
<p>I was told by my advising office last summer that they were transitioning from making that recommended to required last year at my school, and STILL most professors aren’t doing it. Only one of my book lists is available so far. Hopefully that changes soon.</p>
<p>Does this take place immediately? The honest truth is that most prof’s don’t update the class website or send email’s until the week before classes start. It is very frustrating having to wait for books to come in the mail because the book store is overcharging you.</p>
<p>does this apply to profs who teach abroad? I am going to Prague this fall, and the book lists are not out.</p>
<p>Umm, since those professors are outside the jurisdiction of the United States Government, I would guess no.</p>
<p>:::facepalm:::</p>
<p>This is very good. I am lucky that all of my books have been out early in the summer, but I have friends that won’t have the books listed until the day class starts.</p>
<p>^^ Only woodendynomite would post a death threat on a topic about textbooks…</p>
<p>My university has always released textbooks about a month before classes start. There’s always the straggler on two who don’t mention their textbooks until the first day of class, though, and they’re usually English professors. I hate having to spend a week or two waiting for a book to be mailed in while we already have quizzes from it.</p>
<p>Well if the law requires that the textbook info be given out at the time of registration, then the colleges will require the professors to get their act together and have the textbook list available at the time of registration. Professors who don’t do so will be disciplined by their college in whatever way they discipline employees who don’t follow the rules. Having the weight of federal law behind this makes it easier to push professors to get the information out in a timely manner.</p>
<p>D’s college put her course schedule online, and below that was a link that lead directly to the college bookstore’s sight. Clicking on the link brought up a list of D’s required textbooks, by class, with the bookstore’s price for new or used (if available). D could click on the books right then and the bookstore would have them waiting for her when she arrived on campus, or she could take the ISBN numbers and buy them elsewhere.</p>
<p>I would think for some students the ease of having their books waiting for them when they arrive on campus with just a few clicks online, would outweigh the savings from shopping around, paying shipping fees, etc. My kids buy most of their books from Half.com if they can, or we bought one of D’s books from Amazon.</p>
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<p>Really? I went from paying nearly $300 for my fall books to paying ~$70 by shopping online. I think that two hundred bucks is much better than the ease of a few clicks.</p>
<p>Awesome. With me though, I don’t register for classes until freshman orientation, which is the week before school starts. I’m kind of at a disadvantage since I probably won’t be able to really search for anything online.</p>