<p>I don’t disagree with you intparent overall but we are not talking about buying our students books for them every semester, we are talking about giving guidance for this first semester. </p>
<p>In my day, you went to the school bookstore and bought your books period, choice of one. </p>
<p>Now there is buying from the bookstore, buying from the massive number of website sellers, renting, ebooks, hybrid books (I had to actually call the book seller to find out what that was) international editions as well as buying from other students. </p>
<p>So doing some pre-research to understand even for myself what the differences are is what most of us are talking about. And in our case, it is my money that is buying the books. </p>
<p>When I discussed the option of buying a hybrid book versus regular edition with my son for his chem class he readily said, I would rather have the regular text and sell it back at the end of the semester. It probably would be worth more than the hybrid. </p>
<p>He didn’t need me to make that observation and plan. He took the next step in thinking what he would do. Book purchase discussions are like any of the college decision discussions to have.</p>
<p>In terms of managing costs w/r/t books, I’ve seen students make two great errors:</p>
<ol>
<li> They don’t recognize that if they are going to rely on photocopies/reserves/interlibrary loan, etc. that they need to give themselves enough time for the materials to arrive AND they need to read and take notes very carefully during the brief time that they have the materials in their possession. Students who don’t do these things and then expect the professor to accept “I can’t afford books” as an excuse for not doing course reading or for turning in a paper late are a major headache.</li>
<li> They think that they can use free resources like Google Books or public domain translations of works without consequences. Google Books provides only excerpts and I’ve seen students get into trouble when they pull a quote from Google Books and miss its larger context. Old translations–which account for most of the public domain translations I’m familiar with–generally lack accuracy compared to modern translations and make it difficult for students to follow along when the professor or another student references a passage in class. Most of the texts I teach were not originally written in English and all my experience says that students who use these free translations pay for it in other ways in the end.<br></li>
</ol>
<p>Students in classes where they don’t need access to problem sets, online codes, etc. can significantly reduce their book costs if they can plan ahead and become familiar with library services. Interlibrary loan (which requires time) and course reserves (which also require time, but, more importantly, demand careful note-taking) can be very helpful. These strategies require very careful engagement with the reading on the first encounter and careful time management w/r/t any papers that students write using these interlibrary or reserve. Students can make photocopies of particularly important parts of a book if they so choose or copy quotations from books. </p>
<p>If you want to get the benefits of Amazon pricing and be prepared for the first few weeks of class, check out the course pages on your school’s CMS to see if the professor has posted a schedule. You can buy the books for the first few weeks of the course at good prices and then acquire the rest of the books later (also at good prices) if your student decides that s/he will stay in the class.</p>
<p>intparent–we are the opposite–so far all we have had to pay for are books for the older kids. They were able to earn enough money with their summer jobs to cover everything else after scholarships, etc. and since they worked so hard doing that, we said we would cover books. I also had more time to research because I wasn’t working 50-60 hours/week like they were. We will see how it shakes out for the next two though. I suspect it will be a similar situation.</p>
<p>Both my boys going to school for musical theatre at different colleges (BFA programs) Was amazed when they each made their textbook orders and the bills were around $150 each. Mostly for the one GE they’re each taking. (Guess those dance classes don’t really have textbooks!) We’re making up for it in the required private voice and piano lesson fees and pricey dance attire, though! ;)</p>
<p>Checked out the bookstore today. D1s books, 4 classes, all sciences with labs, will cost around $1000. That’s just first semester folks. 3 brand spanking new editions, all bundled with access codes and other supplements. One has a used volume listed on Amazon for a savings of about $6. The fourth book is new enough that a used copy is still over $100 at the amazon marketplace. </p>
<p>Never mind how much the books cost–did your daughter’s advisor really sign off on this? Where I teach, two is the recommended max for science courses with labs, possibly three in extreme situations, but I have never seen a student even ask to register for four lab sciences. Why?</p>
<p>Yes, the advisor signs off. She has exactly the same schedule as every other second year BSN candidate. In fact, because she took a gen Ed this summer to make room for her vocal/music commitments, her schedule is slightly lighter than some of the other BSN students</p>
<p>It has never occur to me to shop for textbooks for the kid. I can pull my credit card and it is enough effort.<br>
But again, I am happy to do laundry, pack and unpack, interior decorate to the point that everybody thinks it is done by proffesional. So, I cannot say that I do nothing and my kid is in Grad. School, second year too.
I have never purchased her books, but I know she buys primarily on half.com and sells them back there also. I pack them and mail them. I do not even pull the card anymore, she uses her own, we just pay the balalnce on it.</p>
<p>^^I agree with MiamiDAP. We all do what works in our own families. I shop for the books because I’m a better shopper than my sons. I didn’t realize how bad they were until I had the opportunity to go to the mall with my niece. She loves clothes but she has a limited budget. She’s become a master shopper. She was using her phone to compare prices and get discounts and she covered the length of the mall more than once searching out the best deals. I’m truly amazed at how much stuff she got for so little money. If she wanted to shop for my sons’ books, I’d let her because she would probably get better prices than I do. She has the patience to shop for a bargain; my sons don’t. They just want to get in and get out and when you only buy a couple of things, price doesn’t matter so much … unless the things you are buying are text books. </p>
<p>Just a caution about buying from Half.com; it might be my bad luck, but twice I’ve received a book that wasn’t as described. Most recently, I purchased a physics book using the isbn number, described as the 2008 American version, hard cover and “like new”. I received a 2006 international version, soft cover and in good condition, but hardly “like new”. It’s a hassle and I’ll probably avoid half.com in the future. If you can’t count on using the isbn number to get what you want, it’s too big of a gamble.</p>
<p>I totally agree with you csfmap. I havn’t done my son’s laundry in 4 years. He is a much better folder than I and thinks it is weird if I do his clothes. Nor have I cleaned his room in this time. It takes time to search the web for book pricing and deals that aren’t negated by increase shipping costs and limited return period. Not everyone has the patience to do it.</p>
<p>I’ve had most of mine for over a week now. 4 classes, 1 math (no book), 1 history, 1 writing and 1 government. A bit of sticker shock as it’s my first time back in college for over 20 years.</p>
<p>The history class is using 12 books. Since I’m long distance learning, and cannot get them from the library, I either bought digital versions or used Amazon (used) or Ebay. The government class was the most expensive. $202 for 3 books. I could have saved $60 on a digital edition of one of the books, but it’s pretty intense subject matter and I need to bookmark and highlight. All in so far is just over $300. Not too bad I guess. Looking forward to getting started!</p>
<p>We just completed purchase of my son’s textbooks for his first semester freshman year.
There were just two study guides and a lab manual that had to be purchased new from the university bookstore b/c not available elsewhere; for the rest there were a number of options.</p>
<p>FWIW, here is how some of the options tallied up:
(includes the three items reqd from univ bkstore):</p>
<p>purchase from bookstore, new: 840
purchase from amazon.com, new: 641
purchase from bookstore, used: 644
rent used from bookstore: 420
rent used from chegg.com: 338</p>
<p>We were concerned about the late fees/replacement costs if rentals were not returned on time (we calcd that could push total costs well over cost for new purchase), and about access codes etc being available on used copies. We were also concerned about what state the used books would be in; even if there were replacement guarantees if not acceptable, it seemed like it could be a hassle to deal with.</p>
<p>We therefore went for the “purchase from amazon.com, new” option this round (plus, we have Amazon Prime, so two day shipping of all the books to our doorstep was free).
We’ll revisit strategies next semester; we’ll have our son talk to people about how rentals worked for them and maybe we’ll be more comfortable with doing at least some rentals next time.</p>
<p>And to anticipate the obvious questions: </p>
<p>Yes, the books from amazon were the identical editions as the books at the bookstore.
Yes, the books from amazon included the advertised access codes and enhanced content where available.
Yes, the books from amazon really were the US market editions, identical to offerings in the univ bookstore, and not the international editions of the same books.
No, I don’t know why the books from amazon were so much cheaper, beyond amazon typically offering good value and discounts.</p>
<p>I think the cost of college textbooks is scandalous.</p>
<p>I think it depends on the book with Amazon prices.</p>
<p>BTW for any student who wants to have an Amazon student account but want to be able to access the account from their regular email. </p>
<p>You must open the account using an .edu email address but afterwards you can change it to any email address you want.</p>
<p>My son already had an amazon account. When he changed the student amazon email to his regular email, it notified him that you can only have one account per an email so they asked if he wanted to close out the other account. He did. Now he only has the one account but prefers not to have to go into the school one to track purchases he makes.</p>
<p>I just thought I’d come update this thread I started, since S is now in week 3 of classes.</p>
<p>He was going to wait until classes began to get books but at orientation an advisor told him this was not a good idea so he asked me to buy them. (Recall, he doesn’t have money or a student account for this, cost this time was on me, but he did give a list of books).</p>
<p>So between the official bookstore and Amazon and a couple of used book sellers via Amazon, we got them all for about $700 and in time for class. Most of his books were over $100, even used. Music books are pretty pricey.</p>
<p>We spoke about it after the first week of class and guess what? At least 3 of them (including a couple of the $150+ ones) are not really needed, as it turns out. So now we know - wait until the classes begin before buying. I think we both were just a little panicky because it was the first time. At least he has some to sell back now and should be able to handle it himself from here, I’m thinking the sell-back will finance whatever additional books he needs next semester but I guess he’ll let me know if it doesn’t.</p>
<p>So, for us, the lesson learned was to wait until classes begin and see.</p>
<p>ohiobassmom,
My kids are juniors in college and I can’t figure this one out yet. It seems that they need the books right away so I scrounge them all up before class starts, yet one of my kids now tells me that one of his teachers decided that two of the books weren’t really necessary to purchase since the info contained therein is available for free online! :rolleyes: I really do not understand professors who post book lists and then 3 weeks later turn around and decide that the books aren’t necessary!</p>
<p>I’m a master at finding great shopping deals. So I buy my D’s books. I used to sell books on Amazon, so that is my go-to place to buy used text books. Here are a few important tips:</p>
<p>Always use the ISBN number</p>
<p>Shop early. Don’t wait until the last minute. Since most books are shipped by media mail, they may take a week or longer to arrive.</p>
<p>Never buy from a new seller with no or very few feedback ratings. You’re taking a chance that you may end up with the wrong book or have some other problem.</p>
<p>Only buy from sellers with at least a 95% positive feedback rating.</p>
<p>If you want a book with no writing or highlighting, then your best bet is to buy like new or very good condition. Contact the buyer by email if you have any questions about the condition. A reputable seller will answer your questions.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t buy international editions.</p>
<p>Request that the seller ship the book in a sturdy cardboard box if it is a bulky hardback book. Inexperienced sellers will put a big heavy book in a bubble mailer and it will get damaged during shipping. Most college students selling their books seem to fall into this category.</p>
<p>I compared buying used on Amazon vs new on Amazon vs new at bookstore vs used at. Bookstore vs renting at Chegg. For my D’s textbooks (mostly comp sci and math), buying used at Amazon was cheapest. Plus I re-sell them at the end of the semester.</p>
Looking forward to getting started!</p>