How much did your kid spend on books this semester?

<p>I think I am at $300. The book for my Statistics class wasn’t posted and I am thinking big $$ for this one. I also don’t have my materials for Field Prod which could consist of DVDs and some edition of Final Cut Pro.</p>

<p>One has a book scholarship, so no worries there.
Other one says only needs to buy books for two courses as there are overlaps from Fall Semester. (hoping for under $200)</p>

<p>This may be the record low for the day … grand total of $19.35 this semester, all from Amazon, shipped directly to DS’s dorm. It is a benefit here that he is an Actor (and not an engineer, like I am!), and his textbooks were purchased used. Don’t worry though; DW and I end up paying in other ways.</p>

<p>Our son who was a comp sci/psych major rarely spent more than $100 per semester for his books. He often spent less than $10 for books that sold for $75+ in the college bookstore. One buying “trick” usually saved him the really big bucks.</p>

<p>About $650 for all books and access codes. D is an accounting major taking all businesss classes this quarter - and all of those books are used. Luckily she can use one of them again next quarter, but seriously?! I remember “back in the day” thinking that $50 per book was outrageous!</p>

<p>This is her most expensive quarter yet.</p>

<p>First semester - probably less than $300. This semester, the math books alone are $600 (and this is for an intro math class, freshman requirement, she will probably never take math again).</p>

<p>I’m about to order used textbooks from Amazon. Is everyone ok with the quality of used books that they are getting through Amazon?</p>

<p>Math books were not available through Amazon. I found two on Textbooks dot com. Anyone have experience with those?</p>

<p>DD’s has a few weeks before second semester but I need to order this week.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Looking over some other responses, I guess I got away cheap this semester: $175 on Amazon (versus $400 through the school bookstore).</p>

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<p>In general, yes. Depends on the seller though – look at feedback and pay attention to the condition notes.</p>

<p>Less than $90 for three books. Two used from Amazon and one from the college bookstore which was an exclusive to the school. No getting around paying $60 for that one used.</p>

<p>Second semester freshman film studies/humanities major just ordered $650 for 3 of 4 classes from Amazon yesterday (he just figured out how to find the book list after several days of my nagging). He also spent $95 for the 4th class and $60 at the college bookstore for books that were not immediately available on amazon. The $800 total was about $100 less than he would have spent for new at the bookstore. That $650 was for 16 books, many of them paperback.</p>

<p>It really depends on the classes your student is taking. I’ve gotten off easy this semester – $140 total. Last semester, I think that was the cost for one Biology textbook!</p>

<p>S graduated in May but as an EE, somehow, after the 1st semester (when we bougth everything at the campus bookstore) was able to MAKE money or break even every semester, selling his used textbooks & getting what he needed for the semester. Have not seen any bill for any textbooks for D this semester–might be that her cinema courses don’t require many/any books? Hopefully S will share the info with her as to how he was able to spend so little on texts over the years.</p>

<p>One book was $83 used, but the other 9 books were under $10, including shipping. We’re trying 4 books on Kindle. D is a little worried, as there are no page numbers on Kindle. Grand total is around $150, using Amazon and ebay. Now, if they would just show up. It seems like it takes forever when sent “book rate”.</p>

<p>My good deal last semester was a hard-to-find book on craigslist.</p>

<p>My strategy is to first check half.com, then Amazon used, then Amazon new. Always buy books with condition “very good” or better. At the end of the semester, sell them back to Amazon. Sometimes, you actually make profit selling a used book to Amazon Buy Back for more than you bought it for. If my S wants to keep a book, I told him to sell it back to Amazon and wait a year or two and buy it again dirt cheap.</p>

<p>We spent very little. My kids usually rent the books for electives if the new editions are required (Chegg ships lightening quick and refunds if the book isn’t needed after all, so that’s a bonus). They also trade books with roommates and friends so D saved about $200 this semester by swapping two books for two that she needed. The few books she actually will want to keep were bought at the bookstore because they’re school editions…at this point, it’s just not worth the expense and hassle of coming up with the missing components from sourcing them used elsewhere. I think her total bill for 6 classes amounted to less than $300, less what she sold last semester’s books for, so probably around $150 net outlay.</p>

<p>About $100. Her college bookstore does rentals now.</p>