Spill it... How much do YOU spend on textbooks?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I am a crazy bargain hunter as I have very low funds (like most college students anyway). I've been doing my shopping early to shop around for the best deals and am curious to know, how much, on average, do you spend on textbooks per semester?</p>

2

<p>Around 200 bucks</p>

3

<p>$300-500 usually, depending on the classes</p>

4

<p>Somewhere around $250. Usually a lot less. I'm an English major, but the sheer volume of books I buy stacks up sometimes! Plus there are randomly expensive books in there -- a 50 page hard-back for $45, for example.</p>

<p>Anyway, I found a few good websites like chegg.com and bigwords.com keep things cheap.</p>

5

<p>As a polisci and legal studies major and depending on the semester and classes, I usually spend around (or in this semester, less than) $150... thanks to amazon marketplace and purchasing books the moment the lists come out...</p>

6

<p>around $200
MCB major : )</p>

7

<p>Spring's looking like about $400 (and that's with hours spent contrasting amazon with cgu and half). (Engineering)</p>

8

<p>~$250 per semester with CGU</p>

9

<p>Seems like it'll be about $260 this semester with the Berkeley bookstore and comegetused. A good improvement over Fall when Chem alone cost over 200 bucks. (Intended Environmental Science/EEP major)</p>

10

<p>it was almost $600 for me last semester... yea I was new and didn't know how to save $$</p>

11

<p>what's CGU?
a lot of books for engineering students such as physics, math, and programming courses are custom...any recommendation on how to find them for cheap?</p>

12

<p>CGU = comegetused</p>

<p>I'm assuming at least.</p>

13

<p>$480 this semester, if I bought from the bookstore
$210 from BigWords.com</p>

<p>And now my shameless plug for one of my favorite sites: BigWords.com will save you TONS and TONS of money. Trust me.</p>

14

<p>Is that a lot cheaper than amazon.com marketplace?</p>

15

<p>


</p>

<p>That's so true!</p>

16

<p>Caveat about BigWords.com:</p>

<p>DO NOT use Chegg.com as a textbook rental company. The concept is sound, but their customer service is ridiculous especially if you end up needing to return books due to a canceled or dropped class. Their shipping is expensive as hell. I'd be okay with that (I know they order from wherever they can find the book, then ship it to me, and they guarantee you a return address label at the end of the rental term) except it doesn't even cover this type of return. They want me to pay an ADDITIONAL $20 to return my textbooks! This is after the initial $20 shipping charge for 9 books (8 of which are paperbacks like The Aeneid).</p>

<p>VERY VERY unhappy with them.</p>

<p>But the comparison service BigWords.com uses for all the other stores has saved me a ton of money in the past, so I still highly recommend that.</p>

17

<p>To be quite honest, I've rarely spent over $100 on textbooks per semester, and when I do, it's usually due to new editions and I unload those as soon as I can the following semester.</p>

<p>Sites I use include Amazon, eBay, and ComeGetUsed.com
I've rarely ever bought from the Cal Student Store. It's the biggest ripoff ever.</p>

<p>Here's a tip: Look for international editions if you can. Often, they are exactly the same as the American ones, except in softcover and are much cheaper.</p>

<p>My CS 61C book ($60+) had an international edition that was just $9.</p>