<p>Do anyone know how much is the exact amount of the cost of atttendance. If not, how accurate are the estimates shown on the webpage ?</p>
<p>Most of the expenses here are exact if you live on campus and get a campus meal plan (both of which I recommend for freshman - after they’ve acclimated to living on their own, then let them deal with the fun of utilities, rent, insurance, food shopping, etc):</p>
<p>[Georgia</a> Institute of Technology :: Financial Aid :: Cost of Attendance](<a href=“Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid”>Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid)</p>
<p>The only things with “wiggle room” are:</p>
<ol>
<li> Books: $1000</li>
<li> Meal Plan: $3320</li>
<li> Personal: $1500
Total: $5820</li>
</ol>
<p>You might be able to trim those by a thousand or two at most, but that’s a good conservative estimate.</p>
<p>Speaking of which, the school now as a $20,000 higher COA for OOS than just 10 years ago. It amazing how fast college prices go up.</p>
<p>In fact, it went up $7,500 (25%) in the last 3 years!</p>
<p><a href=“Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid”>Blow the Whistle! (404 error: page not found) | Financial Aid;
<p>Unlimited meal plan + housing + tuition + random fees will cost you around $16,500 per semester. If you buy used books online or download them books shouldn’t cost you more than $200 per semester.</p>
<p>fesago gives good advice. I found the textbooks for all 4 of my classes my first semester here for ~$150 total</p>
<p>How does one go about buying text books online? Do you have to get the isbn # for each book…and if so, where do you get that info?</p>
<p>You can visit the bookstore’s online website, visit the bookstore in person, or email the professor (which is a good idea anyway to get the syllabus) to get the ISBN (or at least the authors, title, and edition). It’s usually a good idea to wait until the first class to see if the professor requires the book (many don’t).</p>
<p>Once you have that information, you can check Amazon for prices, but usually it’s not much below the bookstore price. If you really want to save money, use a site like Abebooks.com where you can search for international editions and earlier editions (i.e. the 11th edition instead of the 12th edition). Most of the time, a $100 book in the bookstore will go for $5-$20 on that website. </p>
<p>So what’s different with the international edition? Most of the time, you get a paperback book instead of a hardcover and you usually get a different cover (sometimes in Chinese or another language), but the material in the book is identical (and in English). Is it legal? Technically, it’s legal for international students to purchase in their home country, bring it to the US for use in US colleges, then sell it as a used book. However, in my experience, the books are almost always new. The students just buy 20 random books whenever they go home, fly back to the US with them, and sell them for a profit.</p>
<p>I bought almost all of my books from that site, and would usually get $400-$500 worth of books for under $100. That website is good when dealing with deadbeat sellers (item doesn’t come, is the wrong books, or is in bad condition) and is quick to give a full refund.</p>
<p>The biggest downside to buying these sorts of books is that you can’t sell them back to the bookstore. A $75 used book from the bookstore can be sold back for $50 at the end of the semester. A $20 book from abebooks can’t be resold (except directly to other students). If you know that you’re not keeping the book at the end of the semester, the prices come out the same after shipping and you don’t have to deal with the hassle of ordering it online and waiting.</p>
<p>Excellent info…Thanks!!!
: )</p>