<p>My S is totally ecstactic about Bard; while communication has been a bit less than desired, which I have heard is a good sign, and he is a boy, the text messages and one email and two phone calls have had phrases in them like: “I am having the time of my life,” “Every day gets better and better,” “I am thinking of coming home this weekend, but honestly, weekends here are much more fun.” So far he is happy about his courses (it’s early of course) and the only real upset is the price for textbooks, what a scam! don’t they have used ones? What is extraordinary about this news from my S is how unexpected it has been: he was a homebody, hated almost all outside events, camps, etc. away from home, and we fully expected that he might be totally overwhelmed and not ready for college. How wonderfully wrong we have been. He and his roomate don’t have much in common but he already has a bunch of good friends, has travelled to neighboring towns quite a bit (and he doesn’t have a car, so some of his friends must, etc.) I am more and more impressed with every aspect of Bardian life, at least looking at it from the outside.</p>
<p>DD loving it. She’s a bit of an odd bird, so she’s right in her element!</p>
<p>She also goes into Kingston, Red Hook, etc. on weekends. There is a shuttle van which apparently is pretty good.</p>
<p>Tons of stuff going on, jam sessions, informal FYSEM discussion groups, club dinners, hikes, and just general good karma. Very pleased. She loves her classes, meets new people every day, and just seems very happy.</p>
<p>Her bicycle gears got all screwed up, and there’s this place on campus that will fix it for free. She’s thrilled. :)</p>
<p>
It’s a Barnes & Noble bookstore, what do you expect? 
We always check the box on the on-line order for used books but there seldom are any. Might be, in part, due to the changing nature of some of the courses, or the fact that most kids don’t care about the pittance they’ll buy-back textbooks for. We’re used to it and normally shop for new or used books elsewhere prior to the school year, with some limited luck. This year (DD’s third) is the most expensive so far, but then what isn’t?</p>
<p>On books. Next semester keep an eye on the Bard Bookstore Website to see what books are posted, sometimes later than you would like, for your child’s courses. Then check Amazon as a start and Google used textbooks. If you are near NYC go to the Barnes & Noble textbook store on 18th Street as they usually have a big collection of used books.</p>
<p>Your child may also be able to get the ISBN number for the assigned books from the bookstore at the end of this semester or from the Professor. Once you have that ISBN you can shop with confidence that you will be getting the right book.</p>
<p>One caveat to all this is that Professors sometimes assign more books than they actually are going to use and they tell the students on the first day which are optional. Not much you can do about that.</p>
<p>While my Son, a Senior, doesn’t like me to interfere shopping for the best price on books is one thing he allows me to do! I have saved hundreds of dollars each semester doing this, especially for my daughter who takes Science courses.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>D is a sophomore at Bard and this summer went online to abebooks and found all of her books for much less than the bookstore charges. She was also able to resell some of the ones she didn’t want to keep for a better price than what B&N was offering.</p>
<p>thanks stradmom… I use abebooks all the time for me, but didn’t think about it for him… what a great idea!!!</p>
<p>chegg.com is also really good for textbooks.</p>