<p>Hopefully if this was covered somewhere, you won't all pounce on me at once. ;)</p>
<p>Ballpark, what will one semester's cost of books run? Assume purchased new, and I can shave off from there. Assume a "middle major", i.e. not a 2-book physics major, and not a forty million book major like English Lit.</p>
<p>$500?</p>
<p>Depends on the semester. DD has had semesters with $900 book costs, and semesters with $200 book costs.</p>
<p>By the way, English lit (my major) may have lots of books, but not lots of expensive books. I think the worst majors for book costs are probably the sciences, or majors that require lots of textbooks. </p>
<p>My textbook costs usually run about $200 a quarter.</p>
<p>I’ve seen >$1,200 for one semester’s books … pre-med major. Freshman year should be considerably less, and after that have your student check bulletin boards, etc. for used texts in good condition.</p>
<p>I need to clarify…DD is an engineering major. One book can cost $300. BUT the good news is that same book is usually used for more than one term. That is why there is variation from semester to semester.</p>
<p>Advice (and I know that wasn’t asked for), my kids now buy ALL of their books USED online. They haven’t had one bit of trouble.</p>
<p>$200 for a semester if you order books from Amazon.</p>
<p>^ Unless you’re in the sciences or engineering. I just checked to be sure: For CHEM 241, $336.25 plus tax – textbook plus laboratory book. (On the other hand, ENGL 101, $61.50 plus tax for five books.) YMMV.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention that my daughter’s major is very close to English Lit. Science/Engineering textbooks are very expensive.</p>
<p>Interesting. The posts seem to say that science majors may require more $$$ for books than lit/humanities/non-science majors.</p>
<p>When I went to school, during the Civil War ;), I was a chem major, and everyone used to be jealous of my $100/semester book costs.</p>
<p>The Times They Are A-Changin’.</p>
<p>[sorry, couldn’t resist]</p>
<p>Mostly engineering, math and science books for my S…run about $300-$350 from Amazon per semester. Then there are the ones that you can only get on campus that can run close to another $100 per semester.</p>
<p>DD, the engineering major, bought her first term’s books at the campus bookstore USED and the total was $850. That was the LAST time she bought books at the bookstore if they were available anywhere else. She has had good luck on amazon, and some other site…maybe halfprice or something like that. The only “extra” is she pays for quicker shipping. Even with that, she has saved HUNDREDS of dollars on books each term. The only time she goes to the bookstore is if the book is not available from another source.</p>
<p>unless itz a core book like math or physics, i have been renting my books for the one quarter that i need them</p>
<p>i can get books worth $100+ for a less than $50/quarter.</p>
<p>[Chegg.com</a> - Cheap Textbook Rentals. Search for Used Textbooks and Rent College Textbooks at Chegg.com.](<a href=“http://www.chegg.com%5DChegg.com”>http://www.chegg.com) and [Rent</a> Textbooks for College - Your Textbook Rental Source - Campus Book Rentals](<a href=“http://www.campusbookrentals.com%5DRent”>http://www.campusbookrentals.com) have been awesome for me</p>
<p>and my totals have been between less than $100(was continuing with 2 of the same books) and $200/300 (bought first quarter books at the bookstore)</p>
<p>i am a freshman engineer btw</p>
<p>^I’m planning on using Chegg next semester. Our bookstore was a MESS this semester…it wasn’t worth the exorbitant amount. My brother loves using Chegg, and I just looked up some of my books and it’s MUCH cheaper.</p>
<p>Back in the dark ages I bought a calculus textbook I used for 3 semesters (I still have it and had pencilled in the cost) for $13- son’s cost over $100 per text used 1 or 2 semesters- honors calc also, with copyrights in the late 1960’s! Of course minimum wage was $1.65 increasing to around $1.80 per hour back then also. Schools usually have costs of books et al somewhere on their website- needed info when calculating the cost of attendance for financial aid purposes.</p>
<p>PS- the era was early 1970’s.</p>
<p>I personally spent more money on books as an undergrad than during pharmacy school. During undergrad, I had to buy books every semester. In pharmacy, I just had to buy a set of books and was done with it. I did have to pay for notes/handouts though. It was a required fee.</p>
<p>I was shocked by the prices as well!
Went to buy a Calculus book for a kid (summer course). New was $208, used was $159.
Then there are two other “supplemental” books, that I have so far not purchased hoping the school will have some.
Why are the used books so expensive???</p>
<p>A lot of times the science books can be found in international editions which are significantly cheaper than the US versions. And in MOST cases, these are identical page for page with the US versions. If you can only find expensive used books, look elsewhere and then if that doesn’t work try for international editions.</p>
<p>It depends how many science books. D has been buyin only used, never needed any English literature, cost / semester has been over $1000.</p>
<p>
Legally speaking, international student editions aren’t supposed to be sold in the US. They are a whole lot cheaper though, Young and Freedman’s University Physics is 200 USD on Amazon and I bought mine (in Singapore) for 50 USD.</p>